Sempra Energy $SRE Shares Bought by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 2.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $2,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Sempra Energy by 26.8% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,474,236,000 after purchasing an additional 10,278,893 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $192,130,000. PointState Capital LP acquired a new stake in Sempra Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $154,369,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $160,357,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Sempra Energy by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,647,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $331,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391,433 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.50.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

SRE opened at $92.81 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.71. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $60.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.66.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st were issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In related news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.50, for a total transaction of $1,291,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,259. The trade was a 93.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 48,411 shares of company stock valued at $4,141,790. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.