VCI Wealth Management LLC Acquires 1,792 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

VCI Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,874 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,792 shares during the quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,238,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,584,032,000 after buying an additional 1,220,047 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 26.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,474,236,000 after buying an additional 10,278,893 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 13,331,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $951,312,000 after buying an additional 41,104 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,520,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,671,000 after buying an additional 291,026 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,489,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $534,479,000 after buying an additional 823,663 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was 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 owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.50, for a total value of $1,291,753.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,259. The trade was a 93.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 49,987 shares of company stock worth $4,267,870. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:SRE opened at $92.65 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.66. Sempra Energy has a one year low of $61.90 and a one year high of $95.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $85.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.03.

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

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 1st were paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 1st. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. 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 report on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays set a $101.00 price target on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho increased their price target on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.00.

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.