Mackenzie Financial Corp Boosts Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 404,045 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 84,133 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned about 0.06% of Sempra worth $30,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SRE. WFA of San Diego LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 29.9% during the third quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 100.0% during the third quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 68,696 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,673,000 after acquiring an additional 34,348 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 93.7% during the third quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 2,195 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $149,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its position in shares of Sempra by 114.4% in the third quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 32,782 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,230,000 after buying an additional 17,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Sempra by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 172,129 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,863,000 after buying an additional 20,469 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised Sempra from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays raised their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $81.50 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.14.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $68.46. 3,472,263 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,966,757. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $70.41 and a 200-day moving average of $71.51. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $79.51. The stock has a market cap of $43.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.19, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. Sempra had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. The business's revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.77%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares of the company's stock, valued at $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares of the company's stock, valued at $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 156,622 shares of company stock valued at $11,089,713. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.