WESPAC Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 10,153 Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)

WESPAC Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 10,153 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 8,194 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 6,195 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,639 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Centre Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 4,986 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,969 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. This trade represents a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SRE. Argus cut shares of Sempra Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, 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 note on Monday, May 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.75.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of SRE stock traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $74.59. 2,819,308 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,882,120. Sempra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The stock's fifty day moving average is $75.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.55. The company has a market cap of $48.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.12. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 8.55%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Sempra Energy's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Sempra Energy's payout ratio is 56.70%.

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.