Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 14,455 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,681,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 14,455 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $673,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 633.4% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after acquiring an additional 25,838 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in Sempra during the third quarter valued at $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth about $675,000. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,071,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,956,000 after buying an additional 26,821 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,500. This trade represents a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 acquired a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $71.38 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $46.50 billion, a PE ratio of 15.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

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.