Czech National Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Sempra Energy $SRE

Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 172,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,387 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $15,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 14.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,725,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,813,784,000 after purchasing an additional 9,396,652 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 9.2% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 54,071,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,865,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,572,312 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,986,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,148,055,000 after purchasing an additional 606,101 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Sempra Energy by 106.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,428,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $938,325,000 after purchasing an additional 5,374,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Sempra Energy by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,419,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $937,512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,984,409 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sempra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 target price (up from $96.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays set a $95.00 price target on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra Energy news, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $92.95 per share, with a total value of $232,375.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 11,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,048,011.25. This represents a 28.49% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Dyan Z. Wold sold 1,539 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.38, for a total transaction of $146,789.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,895.54. This represents a 24.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 6,192 shares of company stock worth $576,979. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $95.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $62.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.61, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $91.79 and a 200-day moving average of $90.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $97.44.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.16. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 13.27%.The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 19th will be given a $0.6575 dividend. This represents a $2.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 19th. This is an increase from Sempra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is 95.29%.

About Sempra Energy

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.