Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $7.40 Million Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,538 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Sempra were worth $7,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Sempra by 1.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,407,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,352,000 after purchasing an additional 45,884 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $246,000. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $6,029,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at $380,000. Finally, Blankinship & Foster LLC acquired a new position in Sempra during the third quarter worth $1,338,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $75.63 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.09.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael N. Mears purchased 1,000 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $338,500. This represents a 25.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price target on Sempra and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.54.

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.