Tucker Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Tucker Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 386 shares during the quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $124,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after acquiring an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Sempra by 0.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,870,591,000 after acquiring an additional 128,847 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,063,007,000 after purchasing an additional 145,873 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Down 0.6 %

SRE stock opened at $69.65 on Friday. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week 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 stock has a market capitalization of $45.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50-day moving average of $77.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.13.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

Sempra Company 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.