AIA Group Ltd Grows Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 22.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,746 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Sempra were worth $4,688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth about $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth approximately $123,614,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,956,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

SRE opened at $69.65 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.15. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year high of $95.77. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SRE shares. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Argus downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.33.

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.