Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Purchases 80,378 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 80,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,266,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Sempra Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Sempra Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Sempra Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Silvant Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Sempra Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on SRE shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Sempra Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $98.00 to $89.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $102.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial set a $94.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.53.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $82.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.55. Sempra Energy has a twelve month low of $76.21 and a twelve month high of $101.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $82.28 and a 200 day moving average of $89.34.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.14 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 16.70%. Sempra Energy’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

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

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.