Woodline Partners LP Invests $3.34 Million in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 38,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,337,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of SRE. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 265.2% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered shares of 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. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.62.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $618,823.35. This trade represents a 8.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $595,193.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,969 shares in the company, valued at $1,260,117.94. This represents a 32.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE SRE opened at $77.71 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $72.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.01. Sempra has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.12, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.90 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.70%.

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.