Nordea Investment Management AB Has $2.50 Million Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Nordea Investment Management AB cut its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 95.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 702,819 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $2,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pingora Partners LLC increased its position in Sempra Energy by 48.3% during the first quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 230.8% in the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 73.7% during the 1st quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Barrett & Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $92.08 on Thursday. Sempra Energy has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $60.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.21.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.07. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho upped their target price on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Barclays set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 price target on Sempra Energy and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.50.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra Energy news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total value of $2,430,637.44. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,475 shares in the company, valued at $1,303,149.75. The trade was a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $419,399.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at $3,229,553.80. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,411 shares of company stock valued at $4,141,790 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sempra Energy Company Profile

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.