New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 15,406 Shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 542,655 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 15,406 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Sempra Energy worth $38,724,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Sempra Energy by 70.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $584,763,000 after buying an additional 2,758,037 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Sempra Energy by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $408,069,000 after buying an additional 1,936,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,797,376,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In related news, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 16,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. This represents a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Argus cut shares of Sempra Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $88.00 price target (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.83.

Sempra Energy Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE SRE traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $76.17. The company had a trading volume of 3,760,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,856,741. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. Sempra Energy has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The stock's 50 day moving average is $75.83 and its 200-day moving average is $77.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.66 billion, a PE ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.64.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 22.15%. The business's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Sempra Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.70%.

Sempra Energy Company 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.