Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Reduces Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Key Points

• Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co reduced its position in Sempra Energy by 71.9%, selling 107,500 shares and now holding only 42,000 shares valued at approximately $2.99 million.
• Despite Ilmarinen's reduction, other investors such as Wellington Management Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their stakes in Sempra Energy during the first quarter.
• Sempra Energy reported a quarterly EPS of $0.89, beating analysts' expectations, although revenue slightly decreased year-over-year.

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co decreased its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 71.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 42,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 107,500 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $2,997,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 26.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,474,236,000 after purchasing an additional 10,278,893 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Sempra Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $192,130,000. PointState Capital LP acquired a new position in Sempra Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $154,369,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Sempra Energy by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,647,990 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $331,681,000 after buying an additional 1,391,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra Energy by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,238,102 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,584,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220,047 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Up 2.0%

SRE opened at $81.96 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $79.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.48.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.07. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. 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. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $82.33.

Insider Activity at Sempra Energy

In other news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $126,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,248,000. The trade was a 9.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sempra Energy Profile

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.

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