Sempra (SRE) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 27th

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 14th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 27th will be given a dividend of 0.62 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 27th.

Sempra has raised 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 48.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Sempra to earn $5.15 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 Stock Up 1.8 %

SRE stock opened at $78.03 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.38 billion, a PE ratio of 17.28, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.70. Sempra has a twelve month low of $63.75 and a twelve month high of $78.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.14.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 8.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 44.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Mizuho dropped their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,105.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Sempra news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,105.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at $770,983.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 122,432 shares of company stock worth $8,668,035 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.