Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 4,774 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,200,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,774 shares during the period. Sempra accounts for approximately 0.7% of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned approximately 0.19% of Sempra worth $105,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $71.06 on Thursday. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $78.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.75. The firm has a market cap of $46.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SRE shares. Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

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.