Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $2.85 Million Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 38,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,847,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SRE. WFA of San Diego LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 29.9% during the third quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its position in Sempra by 100.0% during the third quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 68,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,673,000 after acquiring an additional 34,348 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 93.7% during the third quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 2,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its position in Sempra by 114.4% during the third quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 32,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after acquiring an additional 17,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Sempra by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 172,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,863,000 after acquiring an additional 20,469 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at $770,983.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 34,190 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $2,421,677.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 156,622 shares of company stock worth $11,089,713. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $81.50 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

Sempra Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $68.11 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $70.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.54. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $79.51. The stock has a market cap of $43.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.71.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.83 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.77%.

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.