Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Reduces Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,476 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 190 shares during the period. Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. raised its position in Sempra by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 7,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,890,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $70.74 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $79.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.84. The stock has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,453.04. The trade was a 19.92 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s 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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.