California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 3,797 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 0.43% of Sempra worth $236,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,527,944,000 after purchasing an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 128,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 145,873 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SRE shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Down 6.8 %

NYSE SRE traded down $4.84 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $65.89. 6,643,959 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,619,447. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The business's 50-day moving average is $75.87 and its 200-day moving average is $82.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. This is a boost from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company'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 value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.