Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Bought by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 201,520 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 29,000 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System's holdings in Sempra were worth $15,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. WFA of San Diego LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its holdings in Sempra by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 68,696 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,673,000 after purchasing an additional 34,348 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 93.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 2,195 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its holdings in Sempra by 114.4% during the 3rd quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 32,782 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 17,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Sempra by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 172,129 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,469 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Sempra from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on Sempra in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $81.50 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock traded down $0.83 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.97. The stock had a trading volume of 2,944,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,890,859. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $79.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock's 50 day moving average is $70.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.62. The stock has a market cap of $44.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.71.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. Sempra's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $1,292,105.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,145 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,292,105.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total transaction of $3,595,856.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 156,622 shares of company stock worth $11,089,713 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Sempra Company 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.