State of Alaska Department of Revenue Decreases Stock Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 86,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,700 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $7,646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 74.6% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 117.4% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In related news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 1,128 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.69, for a total transaction of $109,066.32. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 21,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,091,598.08. The trade was a 4.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Richard J. Mark acquired 2,692 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $93.30 per share, for a total transaction of $251,163.60. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 17,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,621,180.80. This represents a 18.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 6,192 shares of company stock valued at $576,979 and have sold 7,539 shares valued at $706,906. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of SRE opened at $96.14 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $94.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.67. 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 1-year low of $68.58 and a 1-year high of $101.04.

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

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.6575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 19th. This is an increase from Sempra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 95.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Sempra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $98.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Barclays set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sempra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.73.

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.