Meketa Capital LLC Invests $965,000 in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Meketa Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 11,003 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $965,000. Sempra accounts for approximately 2.2% of Meketa Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Sempra by 1.9% during the 3rd 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. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 8.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Sempra by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 144,231 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,062,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 137,334 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,047,000 after buying an additional 8,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 132.7% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 6,575 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 3,750 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Mizuho lowered their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Argus cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,408,786.94. This trade represents a 19.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $338,500. The trade was a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Sempra Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $75.63 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.41. The company has a market cap of $49.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Sempra's 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.

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.