First Horizon Advisors Inc. Trims Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 30.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,414 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Sempra Energy by 26.8% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,474,236,000 after buying an additional 10,278,893 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the first quarter valued at about $192,130,000. PointState Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the first quarter worth about $154,369,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the second quarter worth about $160,357,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 42.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,647,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. BTIG Research raised Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Sempra Energy from $82.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.42.

Sempra Energy Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of SRE opened at $93.63 on Friday. 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 $61.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.68. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.32.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.27. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. Sempra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is 62.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 14,433 shares of Sempra Energy 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 transaction, the director owned 1,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,259. This represents a 93.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,733 shares of company stock worth $4,541,791. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.