Arkadios Wealth Advisors Purchases 1,539 Shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 29.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,539 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy in the first quarter worth $38,000. Eastern Bank lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 73.7% during the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in Sempra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 9.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. The trade was a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 2.6%

Sempra Energy stock opened at $83.08 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.75. The company has a market cap of $54.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.62. Sempra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.90 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 22.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 26th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 26th. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 56.70%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SRE. Barclays lowered their price objective on Sempra Energy from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $88.00 price objective (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Sempra Energy from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Sempra Energy from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Sempra Energy from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.58.

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.