CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Invests $5.85 Million in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)

CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT bought a new position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 82,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,852,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 81.3% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 117,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,199,000 after buying an additional 52,847 shares during the last quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,597 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Quaero Capital S.A. lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 29.1% in the 1st quarter. Quaero Capital S.A. now owns 14,306 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,021,000 after buying an additional 3,226 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,579,380 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $184,065,000 after buying an additional 97,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMI Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 61.0% in the 1st quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp now owns 10,652 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 4,034 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total value of $343,114.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. This represents a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. This represents a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Sempra Energy from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Sempra Energy from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Sempra Energy from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $88.00 price objective (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Argus downgraded Sempra Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.83.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of SRE traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $75.32. 5,966,282 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,857,209. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.64. The business's 50-day moving average price is $75.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.23.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.90 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 22.15%. The business's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. Sempra Energy's payout ratio is 56.70%.

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.