Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Bought by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 122.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 732,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 403,408 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.12% of Sempra worth $64,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $106,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 21,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,691 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 102,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,984,000 after purchasing an additional 2,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth $7,252,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.31.

Sempra Trading Up 1.1 %

Sempra stock opened at $71.14 on Friday. Sempra has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $72.42 and its 200-day moving average is $81.45. 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 company has a market cap of $46.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra 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 sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.