Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. Purchases 172,489 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,059,155 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 172,489 shares during the period. Sempra comprises approximately 1.2% of Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C.'s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. owned approximately 0.17% of Sempra worth $92,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock traded up $1.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $73.35. The company had a trading volume of 4,060,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,706,657. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $71.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.29. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $47.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on SRE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Argus cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.31.

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.