Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Lowers Stake in Sempra Energy $SRE

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC cut its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 49.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 126,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 126,279 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $11,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. West Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.1% during the third quarter. West Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $942,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 24.4% during the second quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 51.2% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Mendel Money Management increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.6% in the second quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 8,476 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Tritonpoint Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Sempra Energy by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 5,999 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $112.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $99.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price target on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. BTIG Research raised Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.83.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE SRE opened at $85.92 on Friday. Sempra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $89.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.71. The stock has a market cap of $56.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.74.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 8.67%. Sempra Energy’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th were paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is currently 79.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, CAO Dyan Z. Wold sold 1,510 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.38, for a total transaction of $137,983.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $318,093.78. This represents a 30.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Karen L. Sedgwick sold 7,564 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total transaction of $698,081.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 41,280 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,731.20. This represents a 15.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 19,396 shares of company stock worth $1,785,606 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

About Sempra Energy

Sempra Energy is a San Diego–based energy infrastructure company that develops, owns and operates businesses delivering electricity and natural gas. Its operations include regulated utility services that provide electric and gas distribution to residential, commercial and industrial customers, as well as non‑regulated infrastructure businesses that develop and manage large-scale energy assets.

The company’s product and service portfolio spans electricity and natural gas delivery, transmission and storage, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, power generation and electric transmission projects.