Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Acquires 4,160 Shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 59.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,126 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 4,160 shares during the quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC's holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Sempra Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 11.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 70.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $584,763,000 after purchasing an additional 2,758,037 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $408,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Sempra Energy by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,797,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 16,969 shares in the company, valued at $1,260,117.94. This represents a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Sempra Energy from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $88.00 target price (up previously from $87.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Argus downgraded Sempra Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on Sempra Energy from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.75.

Sempra Energy Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Sempra Energy stock traded down $0.31 on Friday, hitting $74.59. The stock had a trading volume of 2,819,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,882,120. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $75.91 and a 200 day moving average of $76.46. Sempra Energy has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.63.

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

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. Sempra Energy's payout ratio is presently 56.70%.

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.