Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Sempra Energy $SRE

Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. increased its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 3.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 407,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,362 shares during the quarter. Sempra Energy accounts for about 1.5% of Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. owned 0.06% of Sempra Energy worth $31,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC boosted its stake in Sempra Energy by 48.3% during 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 last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Sempra Energy by 245.1% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 74.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 1,042 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 4,322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.55, for a total value of $400,001.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 47,619 shares of company stock worth $4,122,392. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $82.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.42.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $92.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $60.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $89.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.97. Sempra Energy has a one year low of $61.90 and a one year high of $95.77.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.27. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be 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 is Thursday, December 11th. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is 79.14%.

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.