Diligent Investors LLC Trims Holdings in Sempra Energy $SRE

Diligent Investors LLC reduced its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 36.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,800 shares during the quarter. Diligent Investors LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 10.3% in the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,495,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $249,435,000 after acquiring an additional 229,045 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Sempra Energy by 46.0% in the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 11,811 shares in the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 2.5% during the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,182,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $155,739,000 after purchasing an additional 52,838 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 21.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,656,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,950,000 after purchasing an additional 648,530 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, August 4th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.55.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $91.48 on Friday. Sempra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $83.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.31.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be given 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 payout ratio is currently 62.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $126,080.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,000. This trade represents a 9.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total transaction of $2,430,637.44. Following the sale, the director owned 15,475 shares in the company, valued at $1,303,149.75. This represents a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 49,987 shares of company stock worth $4,267,870. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.