Ethic Inc. Buys 83,028 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 108.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 159,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 83,028 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Sempra were worth $14,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Manhattan CO. LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 106,864 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,624,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 49,182 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,345,000 after buying an additional 1,968 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 5,764 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $506,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Crestline Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,183,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on SRE. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price objective on Sempra and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Argus cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.54.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael N. Mears purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $338,500. The trade was a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of Sempra stock traded down $0.37 on Friday, hitting $75.40. The company had a trading volume of 3,066,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,727,137. Sempra has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $49.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.90 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.70%.

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.