Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Bought by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 29.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Sempra by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 98,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,623,000 after purchasing an additional 5,482 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 19,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,708,000 after acquiring an additional 2,462 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Sempra by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,736,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $143,803,000 after acquiring an additional 333,447 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sempra Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $67.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $79.92 and a 200-day moving average of $84.05. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.37%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, Director Michael N. Mears purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,500. This represents a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 6,719 shares of company stock valued at $467,180. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho dropped their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays downgraded 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 research note on Thursday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.