Insider Selling: Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) EVP Sells 5,500 Shares of Stock

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.58, for a total transaction of $503,690.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 34,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,128,739.12. The trade was a 13.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Caroline Ann Winn also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, November 19th, Caroline Ann Winn sold 500 shares of Sempra Energy stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.70, for a total value of $45,850.00.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Sempra Energy stock traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $91.14. The stock had a trading volume of 3,566,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,332,154. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.49 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.68. Sempra Energy has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $90.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.37.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s payout ratio is presently 79.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $89.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.42.

Institutional Trading of Sempra Energy

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Sempra Energy by 21.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,656,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $260,950,000 after buying an additional 648,530 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Sempra Energy by 7.0% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,495,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $249,435,000 after buying an additional 229,045 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC raised its position in Sempra Energy by 2.5% in the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,182,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $155,739,000 after acquiring an additional 52,838 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Sempra Energy by 46.0% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 11,811 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

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.