IFM Investors Pty Ltd Sells 31,995 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Key Points

• IFM Investors Pty Ltd has reduced its stake in Sempra Energy by 15.9%, selling 31,995 shares and holding 168,628 shares valued at approximately $12.03 million after the transaction.
• Other institutional investors have been actively trading Sempra Energy, with Focus Partners Wealth increasing its holdings by 49.8% and UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raising its stake by 13.7%.
• Sempra Energy reported $0.89 earnings per share for the last quarter, beating the consensus estimate, and its shares have an average price target of $82.33 from analysts.

IFM Investors Pty Ltd decreased its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 15.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 168,628 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 31,995 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $12,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Sempra Energy by 49.8% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 37,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,645,000 after purchasing an additional 12,324 shares in the last quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Sempra Energy in the first quarter worth $96,000. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in Sempra Energy by 3.7% in the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 7,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Sempra Energy by 13.7% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,231,912 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $373,349,000 after purchasing an additional 630,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Sempra Energy by 40.7% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 53,512 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,819,000 after purchasing an additional 15,474 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at $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 available 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 owned 15,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,248,000. This represents a 9.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE SRE opened at $81.96 on Thursday. Sempra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $79.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $53.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.65.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SRE. Barclays boosted their price target on Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $82.33.

Sempra Energy Company 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.

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