Bleakley Financial Group LLC Purchases 515 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 4.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Pingora Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 48.3% during the 1st quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 230.8% during the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its position in Sempra Energy by 74.1% during the second quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Eastern Bank raised its position in Sempra Energy by 73.7% during the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:SRE opened at $92.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $60.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.66. Sempra Energy has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.71.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,229,553.80. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director owned 1,042 shares in the company, valued at $93,259. The trade was 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 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. Mizuho boosted their target price on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Barclays set a $101.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

About Sempra Energy

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.