Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 855 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lessened its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 5.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 855 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sempra Energy by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,238,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,584,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220,047 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 26.8% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,474,236,000 after acquiring an additional 10,278,893 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 0.3% in the first quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 13,331,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $951,312,000 after acquiring an additional 41,104 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Sempra Energy by 4.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,520,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,671,000 after purchasing an additional 291,026 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Sempra Energy by 12.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,489,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $534,479,000 after purchasing an additional 823,663 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sempra Energy Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:SRE opened at $92.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $60.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $85.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.12. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the 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 sale, the director owned 1,042 shares in the company, valued at $93,259. This trade represents a 93.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,411 shares of company stock worth $4,141,790 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on SRE. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. 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 report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays set a $101.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.50.

Sempra Energy 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.