Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Has $16.63 Million Stock Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 219,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,171 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $16,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,656,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,950,000 after buying an additional 648,530 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,495,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,435,000 after buying an additional 229,045 shares in the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,182,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $155,739,000 after buying an additional 52,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 46.0% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,676,000 after buying an additional 11,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $92.81 on Monday. 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 cap of $60.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $86.31 and a 200-day moving average of $79.80. Sempra Energy has a one year low of $61.90 and a one year high of $95.77.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3 billion during 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 revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share 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 $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 62.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on SRE. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Friday. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays set a $101.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other Sempra Energy news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.50, for a total transaction of $1,291,753.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,259. This trade represents a 93.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $419,399.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,411 shares of company stock valued at $4,141,790. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.