Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Lowers Stock Holdings in Sempra Energy $SRE

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. decreased its position in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 5.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 855 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Sempra Energy by 26.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,474,236,000 after purchasing an additional 10,278,893 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy during the first quarter valued at about $192,130,000. PointState Capital LP purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy during the first quarter valued at about $154,369,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy during the second quarter valued at about $160,357,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Sempra Energy by 42.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,647,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $331,681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,433 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE SRE opened at $92.23 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $60.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a PEG ratio of 2.86 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $85.68 and its 200 day moving average is $79.12.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.Sempra Energy’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st were paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.32%.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra Energy news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kevin C. 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 1,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,259. This trade represents a 93.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,411 shares of company stock valued at $4,141,790 over the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Sempra Energy in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $106.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays set a $101.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $93.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.50.

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.