Bcwm LLC Acquires Shares of 121,300 Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Bcwm LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 121,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,640,000. Sempra comprises 3.8% of Bcwm LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth $1,535,000,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in Sempra by 4.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $123,614,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth about $43,956,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Sempra by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,527,944,000 after buying an additional 490,269 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $69.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.13.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

Sempra Profile

Sempra operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Sempra California, Sempra Texas Utilities, and Sempra Infrastructure. The Sempra California segment provides electric services; and natural gas services to San Diego County.