D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Stake in Sempra Energy $SRE

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 883 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $2,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pingora Partners LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 48.3% in the 1st quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 230.8% in the 2nd 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. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 74.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Eastern Bank increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 73.7% in the 1st 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. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on SRE. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays set a $101.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research raised shares of Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.50.

Sempra Energy Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Sempra Energy stock opened at $92.81 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $86.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Sempra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $60.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.66.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were given a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total value of $2,430,637.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,303,149.75. The trade was a 65.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $419,399.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,411 shares of company stock worth $4,141,790. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

About Sempra Energy

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.