ProShare Advisors LLC Purchases 7,162 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 143,259 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,162 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Sempra were worth $12,567,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 39,231 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,441,000 after acquiring an additional 8,638 shares during the last quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $820,000. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 77,258 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,781,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $589,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,774,326 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $243,364,000 after purchasing an additional 253,585 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on SRE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price target on Sempra and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Sempra from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Argus downgraded Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,969 shares in the company, valued at $1,260,117.94. This trade represents a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael N. Mears purchased 1,000 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $338,500. This represents a 25.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Sempra Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of SRE stock traded down $0.29 on Tuesday, hitting $78.14. The company had a trading volume of 3,435,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,744,871. The firm has a market cap of $50.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The stock's 50-day moving average is $71.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.70%.

About Sempra

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.