World Investment Advisors Decreases Stock Holdings in Sempra Energy $SRE

World Investment Advisors decreased its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 17.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 772 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SRE. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 7.6% in the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $772,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 4.5% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,494,066 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $106,617,000 after acquiring an additional 64,829 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 59.7% during the first quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 11,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 4,160 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.0% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,355,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,003,000 after buying an additional 23,097 shares during the period. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the first quarter valued at about $725,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated 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. Finally, Barclays set a $101.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.00.

Insider Activity at Sempra Energy

In other news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,303,149.75. This represents a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the company’s 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 owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 48,411 shares of company stock worth $4,141,790. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $92.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $60.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.48. Sempra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.00.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3 billion for 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 was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were paid a $0.645 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 62.32%.

Sempra Energy 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.