Sempra Energy (SRE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.65 on October 15th

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be given a dividend of 0.645 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st.

Sempra Energy has a payout ratio of 51.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Sempra Energy to earn $5.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.58 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.2%.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $88.60 on Monday. Sempra Energy has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $82.19 and its 200 day moving average is $76.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $57.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Sempra Energy from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho upped their price objective on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Sempra Energy from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Monday, August 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.55.

About Sempra Energy

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.