Sather Financial Group Inc Takes Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Sather Financial Group Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 25,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,385 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 634,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,079,000 after acquiring an additional 30,842 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 3,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,104 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SRE. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $93.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.09.

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $126,080.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,248,000. The trade was a 9.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 1,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,259. This trade represents a 93.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,987 shares of company stock worth $4,267,870 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Sempra Energy stock opened at $90.15 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $84.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.08. Sempra Energy has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $58.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is 62.32%.

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.