Yousif Capital Management LLC Buys 571 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 0.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 89,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $6,751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently 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 acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the first quarter worth about $38,000. Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the second quarter worth about $51,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total transaction of $2,430,637.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,303,149.75. This trade represents a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $126,080.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president 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 worth $4,267,870. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on SRE. Barclays raised their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.09.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Sempra Energy stock opened at $91.35 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $59.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.66. Sempra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The business’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.