Sempra Energy $SRE Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its position in Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 935,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 548,982 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $84,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Sempra Energy by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,725,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,813,784,000 after acquiring an additional 9,396,652 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,380,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,626,827,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,931 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 3.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,036,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,058,214,000 after purchasing an additional 525,750 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 106.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,428,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $938,325,000 after purchasing an additional 5,374,277 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $701,649,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SRE. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $99.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sempra Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Sempra Energy from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Karen L. Sedgwick sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.58, for a total value of $451,049.76. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 39,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,613,304.82. This represents a 11.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $93.49 on Tuesday. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $97.44. The company’s 50 day moving average is $90.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.36. The company has a market cap of $61.07 billion, a PE ratio of 33.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 13.27% and a return on equity of 8.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.50 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.6575 per share. This is a positive change from Sempra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 19th. This represents a $2.63 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.48%.

About Sempra Energy

Sempra Energy is a San Diego–based energy infrastructure company that develops, owns and operates businesses delivering electricity and natural gas. Its operations include regulated utility services that provide electric and gas distribution to residential, commercial and industrial customers, as well as non‑regulated infrastructure businesses that develop and manage large-scale energy assets.

The company’s product and service portfolio spans electricity and natural gas delivery, transmission and storage, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, power generation and electric transmission projects.