Swiss National Bank Decreases Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Swiss National Bank trimmed its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 4.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,880,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 93,400 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.29% of Sempra Energy worth $169,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 52.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 18,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after buying an additional 6,196 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 53,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,819,000 after acquiring an additional 15,474 shares in the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 3.1% in the second quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 12,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $970,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 4.1% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $662,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in Sempra Energy by 7.7% in the second quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 40,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 2,909 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other Sempra Energy news, CFO Karen L. Sedgwick sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $451,049.76. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 39,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,613,304.82. The trade was a 11.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Sempra Energy from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $99.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Sempra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.00.

Sempra Energy Stock Up 0.9%

SRE stock opened at $93.49 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $90.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.36. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $97.44. The company has a market cap of $61.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.73.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its 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 net margin of 13.27% and a return on equity of 8.22%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.6575 per share. 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 19th. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 93.48%.

Sempra Energy Profile

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.