Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC Has $478,000 Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC cut its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 689 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA of San Diego LLC grew its position in Sempra by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its holdings in Sempra by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 68,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,673,000 after buying an additional 34,348 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its position in Sempra by 114.4% during the 3rd quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 32,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,230,000 after buying an additional 17,491 shares during the period. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Sempra by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 172,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at $9,715,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 5,063 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.22, for a total value of $360,586.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,403,888.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 122,432 shares of company stock worth $8,668,035. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on SRE. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays upped their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE stock opened at $71.32 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $70.55 and a 200-day moving average of $71.72. The firm has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.71. Sempra has a 12-month low of $63.75 and a 12-month high of $79.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.77%.

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.