Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Purchased by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 22.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 343,680 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 64,100 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 0.05% of Sempra worth $24,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Sempra by 11.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,758,037 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $408,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on SRE. Barclays cut Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price objective on Sempra and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.75.

Sempra Trading Down 3.0%

SRE traded down $2.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $73.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,855,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,792,178. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $74.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.46. 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 stock has a market cap of $48.20 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.64. Sempra has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 19,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. This represents a 19.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 16,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. This trade represents a 32.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.