Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Takes $16.67 Million Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 190,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $16,674,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 265.2% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.33.

Sempra Trading Down 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $65.89 on Friday. 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 market capitalization of $42.93 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $75.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.71.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 3.92%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.