4,860 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Purchased by Fox Run Management L.L.C.

Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $426,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Sempra by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 31,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,649,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth $81,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 55.7% in the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 7,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $592,000 after acquiring an additional 2,530 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 117,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,808,000 after acquiring an additional 9,342 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra by 20.6% during the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 9,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,624 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.40. 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 market cap of $45.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This is a boost 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Argus downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.58.

About Sempra

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.