Vestcor Inc Purchases 36,875 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Vestcor Inc lifted its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 31.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 153,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,875 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $13,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 85,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,678,000 after acquiring an additional 13,864 shares during the last quarter. Westerkirk Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,091,000. Amundi lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 20.8% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,903,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $142,429,000 after purchasing an additional 327,154 shares during the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $212,000. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 74,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,714,000 after buying an additional 18,359 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $99.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Barclays set a $95.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price target (up from $96.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.00.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $92.71 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $60.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.59, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.73. Sempra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $97.44. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $90.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.27.

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

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 19th will be issued a $0.6575 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 19th. This represents a $2.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.48%.

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.