Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,923,127 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 93,131 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.30% of Sempra worth $168,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,369,076,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 70.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $584,763,000 after buying an additional 2,758,037 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,797,376,000 after buying an additional 1,511,313 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $123,614,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Sempra Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of SRE traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $75.76. The company had a trading volume of 739,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,714,778. 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 company has a market capitalization of $49.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $71.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.09. Sempra has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. 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 yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on SRE. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Argus lowered Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,500. The trade was a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

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.