IMS Capital Management Takes $220,000 Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Key Points

• IMS Capital Management has acquired a new stake in Sempra Energy, purchasing 2,900 shares valued at approximately $220,000 during the second quarter.
• Several hedge funds, including Jacobi Capital Management and Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services, have significantly increased their holdings in Sempra Energy, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Barclays and Mizuho have raised their price targets for Sempra Energy to $80.00 and $93.00 respectively, highlighting positive outlooks from analysts on the stock's performance.

IMS Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,900 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jacobi Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 8.4% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 173,408 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,374,000 after buying an additional 13,433 shares during the last quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors boosted its position in Sempra Energy by 8.0% in the first quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 49,570 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,569,000 after purchasing an additional 3,677 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its position in Sempra Energy by 53.2% in the first quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 57,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,068,000 after purchasing an additional 19,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Sempra Energy by 171.2% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 11,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $793,000 after purchasing an additional 7,012 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on SRE. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.27.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $87.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.48. Sempra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $56.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.65. The business's fifty day moving average is $81.78 and its 200 day moving average is $76.31.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.07. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy's payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

Insider Activity at Sempra Energy

In related news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total transaction of $2,430,637.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,303,149.75. The trade was a 65.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,554 shares of company stock worth $2,976,117. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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