Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Acquires New Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 112,609 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,878,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Sempra by 1.9% in 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 177.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 49,346 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,329,000 after buying an additional 31,542 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $359,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. This represents a 32.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price target on shares of Sempra and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Six equities 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 an average price target of $80.62.

Sempra Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE SRE traded up $0.96 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $77.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,272,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,754,874. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $72.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.70%.

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.