Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Purchases 974 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. grew its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 974 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 250.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 225.6% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 2.0 %

SRE opened at $72.01 on Thursday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $82.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.58.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.645 dividend. 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 3.58%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 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. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.54.

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.