Baxter Bros Inc. Sells 200 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Baxter Bros Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after purchasing an additional 490,269 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,870,591,000 after buying an additional 128,847 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,063,007,000 after acquiring an additional 145,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE SRE opened at $70.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.47, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average is $78.23 and its 200-day moving average is $83.49. 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 one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77.

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. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho cut their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.58.

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.