Advisors Capital Management LLC Purchases New Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Advisors Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 26.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,474,236,000 after buying an additional 10,278,893 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Sempra Energy in the first quarter worth $192,130,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 809.5% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,750,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448,415 shares during the last quarter. PointState Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the first quarter worth $154,369,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $160,357,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was 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 directly owned 15,475 shares in the company, valued at $1,303,149.75. The trade was a 65.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 4,322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.55, for a total value of $400,001.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 11,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,048,128.75. This trade represents a 27.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 47,619 shares of company stock valued at $4,122,392 over the last ninety days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

SRE opened at $92.00 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 company has a market cap of $60.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $89.48 and a 200-day moving average of $82.07. Sempra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is 79.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of several analyst reports. BTIG Research raised Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup reiterated 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Sempra Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.42.

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.