Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Has $2.38 Million Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 79.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,114 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,030 shares during the quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC's holdings in Sempra were worth $2,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,369,076,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 70.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $584,763,000 after purchasing an additional 2,758,037 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,797,376,000 after buying an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter worth approximately $123,614,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $338,500. The trade was a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.54.

Sempra Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE SRE traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $75.40. 3,066,378 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,727,137. The company's fifty day moving average is $70.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $49.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra's payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

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.