Blue Capital Inc. Purchases New Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Blue Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 40,540 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,556,000. Sempra accounts for 2.5% of Blue Capital Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 1.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,407,666 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $201,352,000 after purchasing an additional 45,884 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $246,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $380,000. Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in Sempra by 5.9% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,846 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 1.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $639,921,000 after acquiring an additional 129,891 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total value of $343,114.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. The trade was a 19.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SRE shares. Argus lowered Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 target price on shares of Sempra and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.54.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock traded down $0.37 on Friday, hitting $75.40. 3,066,378 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,740,359. Sempra has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

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