Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Announces $0.62 Quarterly Dividend

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 4th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of 0.62 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th.

Sempra has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Sempra has a dividend payout ratio of 48.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sempra to earn $5.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.3%.

Sempra Stock Down 1.2 %

SRE opened at $83.02 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $52.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.39, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $84.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.14.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their target price on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.00.

Sempra Company 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.