4,056 Shares in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) Bought by Headlands Technologies LLC

Key Points

• Headlands Technologies LLC has purchased 4,056 shares of Sempra Energy, valued at approximately $289,000, indicating growing institutional interest in the company.
• Sempra Energy reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.89, beating analyst estimates and demonstrating a 20.28% net margin, although revenue decreased by 0.4% year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.645, yielding 3.2%, and has a dividend payout ratio of 56.70%, showing a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,056 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sempra Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 73.7% in the 1st quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $56,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on SRE. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Sempra Energy from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $88.00 price target (up from $87.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $126,080.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,248,000. This represents a 9.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of SRE stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $82.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,607,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,583,008. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.62. Sempra Energy has a one year low of $61.90 and a one year high of $95.77. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $77.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%. The business's quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 26th were given a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 26th. Sempra Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.