SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Price Target Raised to $25.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $20.00 to $25.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the energy company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on SM. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. National Bank Financial set a $30.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $36.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.20.

SM Energy Trading Up 2.3%

SM Energy stock opened at $27.89 on Thursday. SM Energy has a one year low of $17.45 and a one year high of $32.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $21.81 and its 200 day moving average is $21.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $704.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $764.40 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.SM Energy’s revenue was down 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend 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 3.2%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 15.58%.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

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

About SM Energy

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.