Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Sells 24,650 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 320,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 24,650 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of Sempra worth $28,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.0% during the fourth 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 increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $586,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SRE shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $69.65 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $45.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $77.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.15. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. 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 3.70%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Sempra 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.