Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Buys 73,633 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 53.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 211,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring 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 quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 265.2% in the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SRE. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.31.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE stock opened at $71.14 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $46.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $72.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.43.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. 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 currently 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.