Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Cuts Stock Holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 52,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,470 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $3,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Sempra Energy by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 70.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $584,763,000 after acquiring an additional 2,758,037 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $408,069,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,797,376,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SRE. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $88.00 target price (up from $87.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Argus downgraded shares of Sempra Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Sempra Energy from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 16,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. This trade represents a 32.08% 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. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $75.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $49.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.60, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.95 and its 200 day moving average is $76.95.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.12. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 22.15%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be given a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.70%.

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.