First Trust Advisors LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Sempra Energy $SRE

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in Sempra Energy by 37.0% during Q3, selling 548,982 shares and ending with 935,780 shares (about 0.14% of the company) valued at roughly $84.2 million.
• Sempra beat EPS expectations ($1.28 vs. $1.12 est.) but slightly missed revenue estimates, and Wall Street consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $100.00.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.6575 (annualized $2.63, ~2.8% yield) while CFO Karen Sedgwick sold 4,872 shares; insiders now hold about 0.27% of the stock.

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 37.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 935,780 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 548,982 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.14% of Sempra Energy worth $84,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. West Wealth Group LLC now owns 10,207 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 6,911 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,587 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $773,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 9,681 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 642 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays set a $95.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $101.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up from $96.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $100.00.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Sempra Energy stock opened at $93.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $61.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.73. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $90.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.36. Sempra Energy has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $97.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.16. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 13.27%.The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.50 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 19th will be paid a $0.6575 dividend. This is a boost from Sempra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 19th. This represents a $2.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy's dividend payout ratio is 93.48%.

Insider Activity at Sempra Energy

In other news, CFO Karen L. Sedgwick sold 4,872 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total transaction of $451,049.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 39,029 shares in the company, valued at $3,613,304.82. The trade was a 11.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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