Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 120,005 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,688,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 120,005 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $149,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 85,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,678,000 after purchasing an additional 13,864 shares during the last quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Sempra Energy by 190.1% during the fourth quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 26,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 17,400 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 5.7% in the third quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 203,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,302,000 after purchasing an additional 11,020 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 5.2% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 2,143,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $192,846,000 after purchasing an additional 106,380 shares during the period. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the third quarter worth $150,993,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on SRE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $98.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $104.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective (up from $95.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In other Sempra Energy news, CAO Dyan Z. Wold sold 1,539 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.38, for a total transaction of $146,789.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,633 shares in the company, valued at $441,895.54. The trade was a 24.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Richard J. Mark purchased 2,692 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $93.30 per share, for a total transaction of $251,163.60. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 17,376 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,621,180.80. This trade represents a 18.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 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 Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of SRE opened at $93.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.01. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $73.06 and a 52 week high of $101.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.60.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.16. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 13.27%.The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.6575 per share. 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 was Thursday, March 19th. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.29%.

Sempra Energy Company 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.