Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Sempra Energy $SRE

Key Points

• Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC has increased its position in Sempra Energy by 77.1%, owning a total of 13,404 shares valued at approximately $1,016,000.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of Sempra Energy's stock, indicating strong interest from these entities.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Sempra Energy, with Morgan Stanley setting a target of $93.00, reflecting positive sentiment in the stock's performance potential.

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 77.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,404 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,835 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 0.6% during the second quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 89,092 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,751,000 after buying an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in Sempra Energy by 13.4% in the second quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 19,791 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,500,000 after acquiring an additional 2,337 shares in the last quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 3.3% during the second quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. now owns 353,620 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,794,000 after purchasing an additional 11,437 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 7.2% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 21,944 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,663,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 33.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 62,900 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,767,000 after purchasing an additional 15,817 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $93.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $86.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $126,080.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 15,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,248,000. The trade was a 9.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $419,399.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. The trade was a 11.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,987 shares of company stock worth $4,267,870. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

SRE stock opened at $91.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.75. Sempra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The company's quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy's payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

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.

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