Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.66 Per Share

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 19th will be given a dividend of 0.6575 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 19th. This is a 1.9% increase from Sempra Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65.

Sempra Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. Sempra Energy has a payout ratio of 51.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Price Performance

Shares of SRE stock traded up $0.75 during trading on Thursday, hitting $95.25. The company had a trading volume of 4,950,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,079,609. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.74. Sempra Energy has a one year low of $61.90 and a one year high of $97.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.59. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $89.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.58.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 15.63%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.50 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Sempra Energy

Sempra Energy is a San Diego–based energy infrastructure company that develops, owns and operates businesses delivering electricity and natural gas. Its operations include regulated utility services that provide electric and gas distribution to residential, commercial and industrial customers, as well as non‑regulated infrastructure businesses that develop and manage large-scale energy assets.

The company’s product and service portfolio spans electricity and natural gas delivery, transmission and storage, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, power generation and electric transmission projects.