BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC Invests $204,000 in Sempra Energy $SRE

BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 526 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 7.0% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,495,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,435,000 after purchasing an additional 229,045 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 46.0% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,676,000 after purchasing an additional 11,811 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 21.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,656,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $260,950,000 after purchasing an additional 648,530 shares during the period. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 2.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 52,838 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SRE shares. Barclays upped 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 note on Tuesday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley reiterated 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 lifted their target price on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.55.

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other Sempra Energy news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total value of $2,430,637.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,303,149.75. This trade represents a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $126,080.00. Following the transaction, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,987 shares of company stock valued at $4,267,870. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $91.48 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.36. The firm has a market cap of $59.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.66. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

Sempra Energy 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.