Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Has $103.97 Million Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 100.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,185,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 593,481 shares during the quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. owned about 0.19% of Sempra worth $103,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $343,114.91. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. The trade was a 19.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays cut Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.54.

Sempra Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $75.52 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $70.51 and its 200 day moving average is $80.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.23 billion, a PE ratio of 16.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra has a 1 year low of $61.90 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.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

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.