Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Has $16.68 Million Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 190,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,896 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $16,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 purchasing an additional 128,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $1,063,007,000 after acquiring an additional 145,873 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $639,921,000 after acquiring an additional 129,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.54.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE opened at $71.99 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.75. 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 quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.86, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.11%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.