The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires 19,571 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 868,933 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 19,571 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.14% of Sempra worth $76,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 128.4% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,722 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 10,751 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $943,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Sempra by 329.5% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,035 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth $206,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $6,001,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Argus lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.54.

Sempra Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:SRE traded up $0.82 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $75.52. 2,830,803 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,739,094. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $70.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.88. The firm has a market cap of $49.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.63, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, Director Cynthia J. Warner bought 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

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.