ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Has $27.49 Million Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 305,469 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,278 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $27,486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $701,649,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Sempra Energy by 786.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,957,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,082,000 after buying an additional 2,623,637 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its holdings in Sempra Energy by 809.5% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,750,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,435,000 after buying an additional 2,448,415 shares in the last quarter. PointState Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the first quarter worth about $154,369,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $160,357,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Sempra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho raised 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. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded shares of Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.17.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $88.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.56. Sempra Energy has a one year low of $61.90 and a one year high of $95.72. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $91.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.68. The stock has a market cap of $57.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.25, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.73.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.27. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In related news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 1,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,259. This trade represents a 93.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Dyan Z. Wold sold 1,510 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.38, for a total transaction of $137,983.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,481 shares in the company, valued at $318,093.78. This represents a 30.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 33,829 shares of company stock valued at $3,077,360 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Sempra Energy

Sempra Energy is a San Diego–based energy infrastructure company that develops, owns and operates businesses delivering electricity and natural gas. Its operations include regulated utility services that provide electric and gas distribution to residential, commercial and industrial customers, as well as non‑regulated infrastructure businesses that develop and manage large-scale energy assets.

The company’s product and service portfolio spans electricity and natural gas delivery, transmission and storage, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, power generation and electric transmission projects.