Ninety One UK Ltd Takes $9.46 Million Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 124,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,457,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pingora Partners LLC lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 48.3% in the 1st quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 230.8% in the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Eastern Bank grew its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 73.7% during the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 188.9% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 855 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SRE. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $93.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.55.

Sempra Energy Stock Down 0.8%

Sempra Energy stock opened at $89.22 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company’s 50-day moving average is $82.82 and its 200-day moving average is $76.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.66. Sempra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. Sempra Energy’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra Energy news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total value of $2,430,637.44. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,475 shares in the company, valued at $1,303,149.75. The trade was a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $419,399.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 49,987 shares of company stock valued at $4,267,870. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Sempra Energy

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.