Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Sempra Energy $SRE

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) by 93.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,361 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Sempra Energy were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Sempra Energy during the second quarter valued at $701,649,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 786.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,957,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,082,000 after buying an additional 2,623,637 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 809.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,750,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,435,000 after buying an additional 2,448,415 shares in the last quarter. PointState Capital LP purchased a new stake in Sempra Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $154,369,000. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Sempra Energy in the second quarter worth about $160,357,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra Energy stock opened at $86.71 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $56.59 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Sempra Energy has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.30.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.27. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 8.67%. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.89 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 79.14%.

Insider Activity at Sempra Energy

In other Sempra Energy news, CFO Karen L. Sedgwick sold 7,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total transaction of $698,081.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 41,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,731.20. This represents a 15.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Dyan Z. Wold sold 1,510 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.38, for a total value of $137,983.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,093.78. This represents a 30.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 33,829 shares of company stock valued at $3,077,360 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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 reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $99.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Two research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.17.

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.