Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $2.17 Million Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,762 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 535 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after purchasing an additional 490,269 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Sempra by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Sempra by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,797,376,000 after buying an additional 1,511,313 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,072,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,143,248,000 after acquiring an additional 311,094 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. The trade was a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael N. Mears purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $338,500. This trade represents a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $75.15 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The company has a 50 day moving average of $70.63 and a 200-day moving average of $80.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $48.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SRE. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price objective on Sempra and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. 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 report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.54.

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.