Sempra Energy $SRE Shares Purchased by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 786.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,957,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,623,637 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.45% of Sempra Energy worth $224,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Sempra Energy by 10.3% in the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,656,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,950,000 after buying an additional 648,530 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,495,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,435,000 after acquiring an additional 229,045 shares in the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,182,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $155,739,000 after acquiring an additional 52,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 46.0% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 11,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra Energy

In related news, CAO Dyan Z. Wold sold 1,510 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.38, for a total transaction of $137,983.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,481 shares in the company, valued at $318,093.78. The trade was a 30.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen L. Sedgwick sold 7,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total transaction of $698,081.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,731.20. The trade was a 15.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 62,693 shares of company stock valued at $5,507,997. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $90.02 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $91.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.58. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.72. The stock has a market cap of $58.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.27. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 15.63%.The business had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. BTIG Research raised Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sempra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $99.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.92.

Sempra Energy 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.