WINTON GROUP Ltd Takes $10.06 Million Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 111,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,062,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 74.6% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 117.4% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the second quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Motco grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 1,945.8% in the third quarter. Motco now owns 491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on SRE shares. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $99.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Barclays set a $95.00 price target on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sempra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $92.71 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.27. Sempra Energy has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $97.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.16. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 13.27%.The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 19th will be given a dividend of $0.6575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 19th. This is a boost from Sempra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.48%.

About Sempra Energy

Sempra Energy is a San Diego–based energy infrastructure company that develops, owns and operates businesses delivering electricity and natural gas. Its operations include regulated utility services that provide electric and gas distribution to residential, commercial and industrial customers, as well as non‑regulated infrastructure businesses that develop and manage large-scale energy assets.

The company’s product and service portfolio spans electricity and natural gas delivery, transmission and storage, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, power generation and electric transmission projects.