Sempra (SRE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.62 on January 15th

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.62 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th.

Sempra has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Sempra has a payout ratio of 48.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $91.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.21. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $91.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.17). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.01% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Barclays raised their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

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.