Nuveen Asset Management LLC Buys 253,585 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,774,326 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 253,585 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.44% of Sempra worth $243,364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after purchasing an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Sempra by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,797,376,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511,313 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,072,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,143,248,000 after acquiring an additional 311,094 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on SRE. Mizuho cut their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $343,114.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,778 shares in the company, valued at $1,408,786.94. The trade was a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 16,969 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. This represents a 32.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Sempra stock traded up $0.80 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $78.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,004,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,741,345. Sempra has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.19.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.12. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. Sempra's payout ratio is presently 56.70%.

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.