Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $6.95 Million Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 414.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 79,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,839 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Sempra were worth $6,952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in Sempra by 225.6% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 180.4% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.31.

Sempra Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $72.70 on Thursday. Sempra has a 12-month low of $64.89 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.71 and a 200-day moving average of $84.84. The firm has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.63%.

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.