Vise Technologies Inc. Makes New $1.15 Million Investment in Sempra Energy $SRE

Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 15,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,148,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 51.2% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in Sempra Energy by 245.1% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 74.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.42.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE traded down $1.47 during trading on Thursday, reaching $91.00. The stock had a trading volume of 107,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,307,990. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.78. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 79.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 1,042 shares in the company, valued at $93,259. This represents a 93.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 4,322 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.55, for a total transaction of $400,001.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 11,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,048,128.75. This represents a 27.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 47,619 shares of company stock valued at $4,122,392. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.