Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Sells 350 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lessened its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 2.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 350 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pingora Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 48.3% in the first 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. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 74.1% in the second quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 73.7% in the first 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. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra Energy during the second quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on SRE. Mizuho lifted their price target on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price target on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.50, for a total value of $1,291,753.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,259. The trade was a 93.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $419,399.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,411 shares of company stock valued at $4,141,790 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $91.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.40. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $59.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.66.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were given a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.