Ascent Group LLC Sells 1,834 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Ascent Group LLC reduced its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 6.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,834 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 171.2% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 11,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $793,000 after acquiring an additional 7,012 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $373,000. Stablepoint Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 18,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585 shares during the last quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 13,911 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $993,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $93.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.55.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

SRE opened at $91.48 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.41. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $59.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.66.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. Sempra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 1,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,259. This trade represents a 93.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $419,399.14. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,987 shares of company stock worth $4,267,870. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.