Vident Advisory LLC Buys 3,474 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 21.8% in Q1, owning 19,412 shares valued at approximately $1.39 million after acquiring an additional 3,474 shares.
• Analyst ratings for Sempra Energy are favorable, with Citigroup and Barclays recently boosting their target prices to $80.00, while the stock holds an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target price of $82.33.
• Sempra Energy reported a quarterly EPS of $0.89, surpassing analyst expectations, although its revenue of $3 billion fell short of the $3.35 billion consensus estimate.

Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 21.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,412 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 3,474 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 26.8% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,474,236,000 after buying an additional 10,278,893 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $192,130,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Sempra Energy by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $408,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,865 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Sempra Energy by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,647,990 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $331,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Sempra Energy by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,238,102 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,584,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220,047 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $419,399.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Sempra Energy Trading Down 1.3%

SRE traded down $1.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $81.06. 4,311,433 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,051,330. Sempra Energy has a one year low of $61.90 and a one year high of $95.77. 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 capitalization of $52.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $79.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.60.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.07. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The firm 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 firm posted $0.89 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus 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.