Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Increases Dividend to $0.65 Per Share

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.645 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62.

Sempra has raised its dividend by an average of 4.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Sempra has a payout ratio of 44.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sempra to earn $5.14 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 48.2%.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock traded up $2.49 on Wednesday, reaching $73.13. The company had a trading volume of 3,487,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,881,056. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The company’s fifty day moving average is $83.96 and its 200 day moving average is $84.93. The company has a market cap of $46.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.92, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their target price on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.17.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.