Machina Capital S.A.S. Buys Shares of 9,846 Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,846 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $864,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $123,614,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 201.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,023,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of SRE opened at $69.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.42. The firm has a market cap of $45.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

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.