Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 424 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Farther Finance Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 8.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 424 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 26.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,474,236,000 after purchasing an additional 10,278,893 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Sempra Energy during the first quarter worth about $192,130,000. PointState Capital LP bought a new stake in Sempra Energy during the first quarter worth about $154,369,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Sempra Energy during the second quarter worth about $160,357,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Sempra Energy by 42.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,647,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $331,681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391,433 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of Sempra Energy stock opened at $88.60 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $57.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.68.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $126,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,248,000. The trade was a 9.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the business’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 transaction of $419,399.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,229,553.80. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,554 shares of company stock valued at $2,976,117 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $93.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.55.

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.