M&G PLC Has $66.96 Million Holdings in Sempra Energy $SRE

M&G PLC lessened its stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 880,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 37,257 shares during the period. M&G PLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $66,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Forsta AP Fonden raised its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 143,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,873,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 8.4% in the second quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 60,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,557,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 809.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,750,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $208,435,000 after acquiring an additional 2,448,415 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,148,000. Finally, Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 4.6% during the second quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 11,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $882,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 4,322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.55, for a total transaction of $400,001.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 11,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,048,128.75. This trade represents a 27.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $419,399.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,229,553.80. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 52,733 shares of company stock worth $4,541,791 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $82.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sempra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.42.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $93.59 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.71. The company has a market cap of $61.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.68. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.90 and a 12-month high of $95.77.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.27. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict 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 Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.14%.

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.