Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $40.45 Million Stock Holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System has increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 1.9%, now holding a total of 566,785 shares valued at approximately $40.4 million.
• Sempra Energy recently reported a quarterly EPS of $1.44, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $3.80 billion compared to expectations of $3.90 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.645 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $2.58 and a yield of 3.2%.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 566,785 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,484 shares during the period. Sempra Energy accounts for approximately 1.0% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned approximately 0.09% of Sempra Energy worth $40,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Sempra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the first quarter valued at $38,000. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 73.7% in the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter worth $56,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $126,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 15,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,248,000. This trade represents a 9.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,969 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,260,117.94. This trade represents a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Sempra Energy from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Sempra Energy from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $88.00 price objective (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.58.

Sempra Energy Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Sempra Energy stock traded down $0.36 during trading on Monday, hitting $81.35. 1,344,717 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,594,578. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $77.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.68. Sempra Energy has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%. Sempra Energy's revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 26th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Sempra Energy's dividend payout ratio is 62.32%.

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.