California Public Employees Retirement System Trims Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,701,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,797 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.43% of Sempra worth $236,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Sempra by 633.4% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the third quarter worth about $675,000. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,071,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,956,000 after acquiring an additional 26,821 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

SRE stock opened at $69.65 on Monday. Sempra has a 12-month low of $64.89 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The business’s 50-day moving average is $77.23 and its 200 day moving average is $83.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $45.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. 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 company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Argus lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

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.