KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Invests $43.96 Million in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 498,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,956,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS owned 0.08% of Sempra as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Human Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its holdings in 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 during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim reduced their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Argus cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.58.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

SRE opened at $69.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $78.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 12-month low of $64.89 and a 12-month high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were purchased 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. The trade was a 19.92 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.24% 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.