Sempra Energy Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.65 (NYSE:SRE)

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders 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. 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 Stock Performance

SRE stock opened at $88.60 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $57.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $82.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.68.

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

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total value of $2,430,637.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 15,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,303,149.75. The trade was a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $419,399.14. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,554 shares of company stock valued at $2,976,117. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Sempra Energy by 20.8% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its position in Sempra Energy by 109.9% in the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Sempra Energy by 4,338.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 592,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,250,000 after acquiring an additional 578,733 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in Sempra Energy by 5.9% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 145,482 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,382,000 after acquiring an additional 8,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in Sempra Energy by 101,740.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 71,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,087,000 after acquiring an additional 71,218 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Company Profile

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.