California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,971,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,631 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Sempra were worth $222,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 97.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 118.6% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,796 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,279,000 after purchasing an additional 10,198 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 119.9% during the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Sempra by 123.5% during the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,000 after purchasing an additional 3,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 118.0% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 2,546 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total value of $3,595,856.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 156,622 shares of company stock worth $11,089,713 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.50 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Sempra Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Sempra stock traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $71.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 461,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,939,420. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.71. Sempra has a 1-year low of $63.75 and a 1-year high of $79.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.63.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. Sempra’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio 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.