Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Increases Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 53.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 211,061 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 73,633 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Sempra were worth $18,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 633.4% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,624,000 after acquiring an additional 25,838 shares during the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 41,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,649,000 after purchasing an additional 14,338 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Sempra by 8.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,071,091 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,956,000 after purchasing an additional 26,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in Sempra by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 9,479 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $831,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.31.

Sempra Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE SRE traded up $1.04 on Wednesday, reaching $73.35. 4,060,515 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,706,657. Sempra has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $47.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $71.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.23. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.37%.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

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.