New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $40.08 Million Stock Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Key Points

• The New York State Teachers Retirement System has reduced its stake in Sempra Energy by 2.5%, now holding 529,028 shares valued at approximately $40.08 million.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for Sempra Energy, with recent estimates ranging from $80.00 to $105.00, indicating a potentially positive outlook for the stock.
• Sempra Energy recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.645, representing an annualized yield of 2.8% and a dividend payout ratio of 62.32%.

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 529,028 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 13,627 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Sempra Energy worth $40,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pingora Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 48.3% during the first quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 230.8% during the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 73.7% during the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra Energy during the second quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in Sempra Energy by 44.7% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,026 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $93.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $86.09.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Sempra Energy stock opened at $91.16 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $85.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.48 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.66. Sempra Energy has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In other Sempra Energy news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 15,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,000. This represents a 9.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 owned 39,380 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,987 shares of company stock valued at $4,267,870 in the last quarter. Company 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.

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