TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Buys 24,314 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 513,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,314 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. owned 0.08% of Sempra Energy worth $45,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,725,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,813,784,000 after acquiring an additional 9,396,652 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 106.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,428,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $938,325,000 after acquiring an additional 5,374,277 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 54,071,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,865,115,000 after acquiring an additional 4,572,312 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,419,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $937,512,000 after acquiring an additional 2,984,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 20,627.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,898,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,842,000 after acquiring an additional 1,889,515 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Energy Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of SRE stock opened at $94.00 on Monday. Sempra Energy has a 1-year low of $69.08 and a 1-year high of $101.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $94.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $61.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 19th were issued a $0.6575 dividend. This is a boost from Sempra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 19th. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 95.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Sempra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $101.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Sempra Energy from $98.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Argus upgraded Sempra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 1,128 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.69, for a total value of $109,066.32. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 21,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,091,598.08. This represents a 4.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Dyan Z. Wold sold 1,539 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.38, for a total value of $146,789.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,633 shares in the company, valued at $441,895.54. This represents a 24.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 6,192 shares of company stock valued at $576,979 and sold 7,539 shares valued at $706,906. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Profile

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.