OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Invests $424,000 in Sempra Energy $SRE

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Sempra Energy by 1.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,515,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $114,829,000 after buying an additional 21,439 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 131,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,012,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 31.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 31,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,414,000 after acquiring an additional 7,617 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 219,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,171 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Sempra Energy by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $591,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In related news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total transaction of $2,430,637.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,303,149.75. This trade represents a 65.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 48,411 shares of company stock valued at $4,141,790 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. 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. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.00.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $92.65 on Wednesday. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $86.75 and its 200 day moving average is $80.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

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

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

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

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.