SRE Traded At A New High Today

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SRE traded at a new high today. Hoo-ah!

At Investors Business Daily: SRE has doubled since its low in 2011, and pays a dividend.

Sempra Energy's stock has more than doubled since an August 2011 low and was resting Tuesday near an all-time high.

That's pretty good for a public utility that pays a dividend, too.

San Diego-based Sempra (SRE) provides electricity and natural gas to 31 million customers around the U.S. and in Latin America. It was formed in 1998 from the merger of San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas.

"That's pretty good for a public utility that pays a dividend, too."

I was unaware of any public utility not paying a dividend. [Please don't write to tell me about those that don't pay a dividend; I don't want to have my myth destroyed.]

In my little investing world, San Diego Gas & Electric was one of the first companies I ever bought stock in (BNI was one of my first, along with MDU). I bought SDGE through a full-service broker; discount brokers were not yet around. I remember asking the full-service broker which utility she recommended; she didn't have any advice, just told me, and I'm paraphrasing: "throw a dart." I wish my dart had hit AAPL. LOL. 

By the way, a 2.7% dividend does not look all that interesting for a utility, but one must remember that just a few years ago, back in 2009, SRE was paying 35 cents/share. It is now paying 63 cents/share with another dividend hike likely early next year, if not sooner.