Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $1.74 Million Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 368.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,681 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,482 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Sempra were worth $1,736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Sempra by 11.9% in the 4th 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Sempra by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $584,763,000 after acquiring an additional 2,758,037 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $123,614,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at $618,823.35. This trade represents a 8.69 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.54.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $75.41 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.57 and a 200-day moving average of $80.74. Sempra has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $49.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. 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 (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's payout ratio is presently 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.

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