EP Wealth Advisors LLC Has $25.49 Million Stock Holdings in Sempra Energy $SRE

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 1.4%, owning 357,181 shares valued at approximately $25.5 million as per recent SEC filings.
• A number of institutional investors, including Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC and Aptus Capital Advisors LLC, significantly raised their positions in Sempra Energy during the last quarter, highlighting strong investor interest.
• Wall Street analysts have recently upgraded their price targets for Sempra Energy, with a consensus price target now at $82.33, indicating a generally positive outlook for the stock.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 357,181 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,974 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC owned 0.05% of Sempra Energy worth $25,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in Sempra Energy by 5.2% in the first quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 342,183 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $24,418,000 after acquiring an additional 16,946 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Sempra Energy by 103.4% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 5,957 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 3,029 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Sempra Energy by 0.4% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,346,798 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $167,468,000 after acquiring an additional 8,459 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 2.5% during the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,182,448 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $155,739,000 after buying an additional 52,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 10.5% during the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 7,039 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during 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 Sempra Energy news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $419,399.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,229,553.80. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the business's 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,000. This trade represents a 9.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE traded down $0.11 during trading on Thursday, hitting $82.12. The company had a trading volume of 3,601,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,169,350. The company has a market cap of $53.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The business's 50-day moving average is $79.57 and its 200 day moving average is $75.69. 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 (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Sempra Energy from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $80.00 target price (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 assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.33.

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.