California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 585,211 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 24.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,811,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 585,211 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.28% of Sempra Energy worth $137,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 24.4% during the second quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra Energy by 51.2% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Mendel Money Management grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 8,476 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 5,999 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 25,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sempra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Sempra Energy from $82.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Citigroup reissued 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.92.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 0.6%

SRE opened at $90.64 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Sempra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.75.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 15.63%.The company’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 79.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Dyan Z. Wold sold 1,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.38, for a total value of $137,983.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,093.78. This trade represents a 30.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total transaction of $2,430,637.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 62,693 shares of company stock worth $5,507,997. 0.27% of the stock is currently 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.