Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 244,039 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Hsbc Holdings PLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,084,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 244,039 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.32% of Sempra Energy worth $157,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Sempra Energy by 10.3% during the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 21.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,656,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,950,000 after buying an additional 648,530 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,495,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,435,000 after buying an additional 229,045 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC grew its stake in Sempra Energy by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,182,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $155,739,000 after buying an additional 52,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Sempra Energy by 46.0% in the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after buying an additional 11,811 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $94.72 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $91.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Sempra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.72. The company has a market capitalization of $61.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.68.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.Sempra Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on SRE. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $82.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. BTIG Research raised Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price target on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.92.

Insider Activity at Sempra Energy

In related news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,303,149.75. This represents a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.58, for a total transaction of $503,690.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 34,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,128,739.12. This represents a 13.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 62,693 shares of company stock worth $5,507,997 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.