Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stock Position Decreased by Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V.

Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. decreased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 92.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,061 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 105,184 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V.'s holdings in Sempra were worth $795,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 360,211 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,598,000 after acquiring an additional 26,541 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 211,061 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $18,514,000 after purchasing an additional 73,633 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 33,833 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,639 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in Sempra by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 1,059,155 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $92,909,000 after acquiring an additional 172,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 47,989 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,210,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Guggenheim reduced their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In related news, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at $618,823.35. This trade represents a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $72.34 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $71.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.29. The firm has a market cap of $47.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. 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 (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.