Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Sells 4,672 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR reduced its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 5.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 76,083 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,672 shares during the quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR's holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $5,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 10.3% during the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,641 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 21.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,656,805 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $260,950,000 after acquiring an additional 648,530 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 7.0% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,495,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $249,435,000 after acquiring an additional 229,045 shares in the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 2.5% during the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,182,448 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $155,739,000 after acquiring an additional 52,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 46.0% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,501 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 11,811 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $419,399.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,000. This represents a 9.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,987 shares of company stock valued at $4,267,870. Insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Sempra Energy stock opened at $92.30 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.47. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.90 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $60.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.66. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were given a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy's payout ratio is currently 62.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $86.09.

About Sempra Energy

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.

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