Public Sector Pension Investment Board Reduces Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board cut its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 31.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 110,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 51,709 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Sempra were worth $9,245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Sempra by 2.8% during the second quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Sempra by 2.8% during the second quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its position in Sempra by 3.5% during the second quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Sempra by 1.6% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Sempra by 4.0% during the second quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $93.77 on Friday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $86.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.27. The company has a market cap of $59.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.