Rice Partnership LLC Takes $428,000 Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Key Points

• Rice Partnership LLC has acquired a new stake in Sempra Energy worth approximately $428,000, comprising 5,651 shares, as reported in their recent SEC filing.
• Institutional investors now own about 89.65% of Sempra Energy's stock, with several hedge funds increasing their holdings significantly in the first quarter.
• Sempra Energy recently reported earnings of $0.89 EPS, surpassing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.645 per share with a yield of 2.8%.

Rice Partnership LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,651 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 3,212 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 65.1% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,191 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 2,046 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $384,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 462.0% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,548 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $753,000 after buying an additional 8,671 shares during the period. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,722 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on SRE. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. 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 report on Wednesday, September 24th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $86.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $126,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,248,000. This represents a 9.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 15,475 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,303,149.75. This represents a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,987 shares of company stock worth $4,267,870 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $93.36 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $83.94 and a 200-day moving average of $77.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 2.98 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 has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.32%.

Sempra Energy 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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