Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Has $1.02 Million Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 77.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,835 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 0.6% during the second quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 89,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,751,000 after acquiring an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 13.4% during the second quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 19,791 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,500,000 after acquiring an additional 2,337 shares in the last quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 3.3% during the second quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 353,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,794,000 after acquiring an additional 11,437 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 7.2% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 21,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 33.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 62,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,767,000 after acquiring an additional 15,817 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $91.26 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 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $59.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $85.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.75.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for 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 company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other news, 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 15,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,303,149.75. This trade represents a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,987 shares of company stock worth $4,267,870. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Barclays raised their target price on 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, Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price target on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.09.

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.