DAVENPORT & Co LLC Makes New Investment in Sempra Energy $SRE

DAVENPORT & Co LLC purchased a new position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 18,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,370,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Pingora Partners LLC increased its position in Sempra Energy by 48.3% in the first quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in Sempra Energy by 230.8% in the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Eastern Bank increased its position in Sempra Energy by 73.7% in the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the second quarter worth about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho upped 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, September 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.09.

Insider Activity at Sempra Energy

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction 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 approximately $1,248,000. This represents a 9.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 49,987 shares of company stock valued at $4,267,870. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of Sempra Energy stock opened at $90.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.32 and a 200 day moving average of $78.03. Sempra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $58.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.78, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.66. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 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 analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Sempra Energy’s dividend 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.