PGGM Investments Invests $156,000 in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

PGGM Investments acquired a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $156,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Sempra by 0.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,870,591,000 after acquiring an additional 128,847 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Sempra by 4.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,063,007,000 after acquiring an additional 145,873 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 1.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $639,921,000 after acquiring an additional 129,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired 6,719 shares of company stock worth $467,180 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $70.30 on Friday. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $79.57 and its 200-day moving average is $83.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SRE. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

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.