Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Increases Stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 295,628 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 5,337 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $21,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after buying an additional 490,269 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Sempra Energy by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,797,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,313 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sempra Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,072,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,143,248,000 after purchasing an additional 311,094 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $88.00 price target (up from $87.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut Sempra Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays cut Sempra Energy from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.83.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of SRE traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $74.27. 3,257,822 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,804,563. Sempra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $48.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.64. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $74.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.05.

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

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. Sempra Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.70%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other news, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 32.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $343,114.91. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. This represents a 19.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

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.