Natixis Advisors L.P. Grows Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 421,223 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 44,741 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned 0.07% of Sempra worth $31,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,081 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 62.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,479 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,502 shares during the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,715 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $295,000. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in Sempra by 66.4% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 18,833 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,407,000 after acquiring an additional 7,514 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Sempra in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sempra from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com cut Sempra from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Mizuho cut their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $82.14.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total value of $3,595,856.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $141.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total value of $3,595,856.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $141.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,145 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 122,432 shares of company stock worth $8,668,035. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $72.92. 3,451,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,043,445. Sempra has a twelve month low of $63.75 and a twelve month high of $78.70. The company has a market cap of $46.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.80.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is 51.77%.

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.