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

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. 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 owned approximately 0.43% of Sempra worth $236,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 265.2% during the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its position in Sempra by 225.6% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SRE shares. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE traded down $1.27 during trading on Thursday, hitting $71.57. The stock had a trading volume of 3,359,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,597,162. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.92. The firm has a market cap of $46.62 billion, a PE ratio of 15.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

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.