Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Increases Stock Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 31.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Sempra Energy by 26.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,474,236,000 after purchasing an additional 10,278,893 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $192,130,000. PointState Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $154,369,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $160,357,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 42.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,647,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $331,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391,433 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays set a $101.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.50.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $92.81 on Friday. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $86.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.71.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $419,399.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.50, for a total value of $1,291,753.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,259. This trade represents a 93.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,411 shares of company stock valued at $4,141,790 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.