Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Plans $0.62 Quarterly Dividend

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) declared 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 2.76%.

Sempra has raised its dividend 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% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $89.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $90.16. The stock has a market cap of $56.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $83.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.00.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.17). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

About Sempra

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.