Opus Capital Group LLC Grows Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Opus Capital Group LLC grew its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 337 shares during the quarter. Opus Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. WFA of San Diego LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 68,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,673,000 after purchasing an additional 34,348 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 93.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 2,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 114.4% in the 3rd quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 32,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 17,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 172,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,469 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE SRE traded up $1.53 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $67.94. The company had a trading volume of 2,486,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,959,926. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Sempra has a one year low of $63.75 and a one year high of $79.51. The company has a market cap of $42.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s fifty day moving average is $70.46 and its 200-day moving average is $71.53.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SRE shares. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 34,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $2,421,677.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 34,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $2,421,677.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $141.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 156,622 shares of company stock worth $11,089,713 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.