Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys 10,033 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 10,033 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $782,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the second quarter valued at about $5,588,577,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $957,056,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $896,599,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $538,775,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $465,202,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

SRE opened at $82.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The company has a market capitalization of $54.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $82.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $89.34. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $76.21 and a 1 year high of $101.04.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.14 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 16.70% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 24th were issued a dividend of $0.6575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 24th. This represents a $2.63 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is 76.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on SRE. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH decreased their target price on Sempra Energy from $98.00 to $89.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Scotiabank started coverage on Sempra Energy in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial set a $94.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sempra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded Sempra Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $104.00 to $84.00 in a report on Monday, August 31st. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.53.

Sempra Energy Profile

Sempra is an energy infrastructure company headquartered in San Diego, California. Through its regulated utility businesses, the company provides natural gas and electric service to customers in California, including through Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric Company.

Sempra also develops, owns, and operates energy infrastructure in North America. Its activities include natural gas pipelines and storage, liquefied natural gas infrastructure, renewable energy and battery storage projects, and electric transmission and distribution assets.