Stephens Inc. AR Sells 240 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Stephens Inc. AR decreased its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pingora Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 48.3% in the first quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 230.8% in the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Eastern Bank raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 73.7% in the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the second quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 44.7% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho raised their price objective on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Barclays set a $101.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.50.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $92.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.90 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $86.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.66.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.32%.

Insider Activity at Sempra Energy

In other Sempra Energy news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,475 shares in the company, valued at $1,303,149.75. This trade represents a 65.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,229,553.80. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,411 shares of company stock valued at $4,141,790 in the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.