Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,701,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,797 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Sempra were worth $236,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after buying an additional 490,269 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Sempra by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,870,591,000 after acquiring an additional 128,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Sempra by 4.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,063,007,000 after purchasing an additional 145,873 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $69.65 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 52 week low of $64.89 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $77.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.15.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,500. This trade represents a 25.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sempra Company 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.