Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Bought by Meeder Advisory Services Inc.

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. WFA of San Diego LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 29.9% in the third quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 100.0% in the third quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 68,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,673,000 after buying an additional 34,348 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 93.7% in the third quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 2,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 114.4% in the third quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 32,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after buying an additional 17,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 172,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,863,000 after buying an additional 20,469 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the sale, the insider now owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total transaction of $3,595,856.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 156,622 shares of company stock valued at $11,089,713. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

Sempra Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $70.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.71. Sempra has a 12-month low of $63.75 and a 12-month high of $79.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.56.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.77%.

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.