Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 66,468 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 526,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,468 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $46,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho reduced 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. UBS Group lowered shares of 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 note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sempra Trading Down 6.8 %

NYSE SRE opened at $65.89 on Monday. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month 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’s fifty day moving average price is $75.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.70. The stock has a market cap of $42.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for 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%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date 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.