SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) Receives $30.00 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.00.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SM shares. Susquehanna cut their price objective on SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Siebert Williams Shank downgraded SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,753,000 after buying an additional 19,965 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SM Energy by 43.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 145,922 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,370,000 after buying an additional 44,542 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 68,111 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,040,000 after acquiring an additional 2,969 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 44.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $222,000. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM stock opened at $26.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.03. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $17.45 and a 12 month high of $32.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $21.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. SM Energy had a net margin of 20.55% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The company had revenue of $704.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $764.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This is a positive change from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.58%.

SM Energy Company Profile

SM Energy Company (NYSE: SM) is an independent energy firm engaged in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company focuses on identifying and exploiting unconventional onshore basins, leveraging advanced drilling and completion techniques to optimize resource recovery. SM Energy’s operations are supported by an integrated approach to reservoir management and strategic midstream partnerships, enabling efficient transportation and marketing of hydrocarbons.

The company’s core asset areas include prolific basins such as the Permian, Eagle Ford, and the Rocky Mountain region.