Apollon Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,115 Shares of Sempra Energy $SRE

Apollon Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,115 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,238,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,584,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220,047 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 10,278,893 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 0.3% during the first quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 13,331,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $951,312,000 after acquiring an additional 41,104 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 4.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,520,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $536,671,000 after acquiring an additional 291,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 12.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,489,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $534,479,000 after acquiring an additional 823,663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.09.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $92.30 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.90 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.66.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released 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 net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra Energy news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 1,576 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $126,080.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 15,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,248,000. The trade was a 9.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at $3,229,553.80. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 49,987 shares of company stock valued at $4,267,870. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.