SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.33.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 16th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of SM Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in SM Energy by 69.5% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,017 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in SM Energy by 200.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in SM Energy by 1,097.9% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,138 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its stake in SM Energy by 172.8% in the 1st quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 933 shares during the period. Finally, Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in SM Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. 94.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SM Energy Stock Performance

NYSE SM opened at $27.64 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.84. SM Energy has a 12-month low of $19.67 and a 12-month high of $47.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 2.16.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $792.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $792.58 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 27.61% and a return on equity of 19.90%. SM Energy’s revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 4th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 11.20%.

SM Energy Company Profile

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St.