Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) Director Sells $1,291,753.50 in Stock

Key Points

• Sempra Energy Director Kevin Sagara sold 14,433 shares of stock for a total of $1,291,753.50, significantly reducing his ownership by 93.27%.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.645, yielding 2.9%, with the ex-dividend date on October 1st.
• Sempra Energy's stock has a current price target ranging from $80.00 to $95.00, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) Director Kevin Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.50, for a total transaction of $1,291,753.50. Following the sale, the director owned 1,042 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $93,259. The trade was a 93.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 1.3%

Sempra Energy stock traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $89.74. 3,930,558 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,664,038. Sempra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $82.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. Sempra Energy's revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy's payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in 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 worth $3,474,236,000 after acquiring an additional 10,278,893 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sempra Energy during the second quarter worth $701,649,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Sempra Energy during the first quarter worth $192,130,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Sempra Energy by 786.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,957,399 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $224,082,000 after buying an additional 2,623,637 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in Sempra Energy by 809.5% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,750,891 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $208,435,000 after buying an additional 2,448,415 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating 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 stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra Energy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.55.

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.

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