Sempra Energy $SRE Shares Acquired by CX Institutional

CX Institutional grew its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 69.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,358 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pingora Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 48.3% in the 1st quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Eastern Bank lifted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 73.7% in the 1st quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 188.9% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 855 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $93.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price target on Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 sale, the director directly owned 15,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,303,149.75. The trade was a 65.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 15,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,000. This trade represents a 9.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 35,554 shares of company stock worth $2,976,117. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $88.60 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $82.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.62. Sempra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $57.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. Sempra Energy’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.32%.

Sempra Energy Company Profile

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.