Vivaldi Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Vivaldi Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,441 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,527,944,000 after buying an additional 490,269 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,511,313 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,072,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,143,248,000 after purchasing an additional 311,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SRE. Citigroup dropped their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Argus lowered Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Sempra from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.77.

Sempra Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $78.41 on Tuesday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $71.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.16. Sempra has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $51.12 billion, a PE ratio of 17.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.12. The firm 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 was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.70%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,500. This represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.