Praxis Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Praxis Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 26.8% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,474,236,000 after acquiring an additional 10,278,893 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra Energy in the first quarter worth about $192,130,000. PointState Capital LP acquired a new stake in Sempra Energy in the first quarter worth about $154,369,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra Energy in the second quarter worth about $160,357,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 42.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,647,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $331,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391,433 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In other Sempra Energy news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total value 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 approximately $1,303,149.75. The trade was a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $126,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,000. The trade was a 9.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,987 shares of company stock valued at $4,267,870. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Mizuho raised their price target on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.09.

Sempra Energy Trading Down 1.2%

Sempra Energy stock opened at $91.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $59.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $85.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.61.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. Sempra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 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.