New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 74,855 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 937,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 74,855 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.15% of Sempra worth $70,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth about $605,000. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 20,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,455,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,495,000 after purchasing an additional 658,477 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 71,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,355,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 6,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on SRE. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.50 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Sempra Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $71.53 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $79.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.02. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a $0.62 dividend. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 51.77%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the sale, the insider now owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,105.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 156,622 shares of company stock worth $11,089,713. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.