Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Trims Holdings in Sempra Energy $SRE

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC cut its stake in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 350 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $1,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 22.2% in the second quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 11,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $894,000 after purchasing an additional 2,141 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Sempra Energy by 2.4% during the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 37,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,876,000 after buying an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in Sempra Energy by 31.0% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 2,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Sempra Energy by 10.5% during the second quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,874 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,430,000 after buying an additional 1,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Securian Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Sempra Energy by 1.9% during the second quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,583,000 after buying an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $93,259. The trade was a 93.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 48,411 shares of company stock valued at $4,141,790. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Energy Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of SRE stock opened at $91.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $86.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.40. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.90 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $59.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.66.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly 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. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays set a $101.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.50.

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.