Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Purchases 15,000 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 46.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,954 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd's holdings in Sempra were worth $3,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 1,609 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Sempra by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,077,642 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $528,912,000 after purchasing an additional 507,622 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. now owns 123,058 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,196,000 after buying an additional 34,511 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at $288,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth about $724,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SRE. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Sempra in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sempra from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $82.86.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, Director Richard J. Mark acquired 1,925 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $77.97 per share, with a total value of $150,092.25. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $422,597.40. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard J. Mark purchased 1,925 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $77.97 per share, for a total transaction of $150,092.25. Following the purchase, the director now owns 5,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $422,597.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 122,432 shares of company stock valued at $8,668,035. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Sempra Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of SRE stock traded down $1.48 on Thursday, hitting $75.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,704,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,038,160. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $72.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $48.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.70. Sempra has a twelve month low of $63.75 and a twelve month high of $78.83.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.95% and a net margin of 20.99%. Sempra's revenue for the quarter was down 44.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 27th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 27th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.93%.

Sempra Company 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.