Farther Finance Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC cut its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 52.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,521 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 225.6% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 180.4% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays cut Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Sempra Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE SRE opened at $70.74 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.04 and a 200-day moving average of $83.84. The firm has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.