Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $3.28 Million Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 781.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,109 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Sempra were worth $3,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 7,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its position in shares of Sempra by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.58.

Sempra Price Performance

Sempra stock opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $45.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $78.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.40. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Profile

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.