Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $14.76 Million in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 168,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,760,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 633.4% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,624,000 after acquiring an additional 25,838 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in Sempra in the third quarter worth $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Sempra by 8.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 1.9% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,865,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter worth about $675,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of SRE opened at $71.50 on Friday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year high of $95.77. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $83.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 56.11%.

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.