SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Truist Financial

Truist Financial started coverage on shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) in a research note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $38.00 price target on the energy company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Susquehanna decreased their target price 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. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Siebert Williams Shank lowered SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on SM Energy from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised SM Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SM Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.67.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM stock opened at $30.41 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.68. SM Energy has a 52 week low of $17.45 and a 52 week high of $32.26.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $704.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $764.40 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 20.55% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The business’s revenue was down 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 2.9%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in SM Energy by 145.9% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 202,977 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,788,000 after acquiring an additional 120,443 shares during the period. Fearnley Asset Management AS bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $16,379,000. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth $56,000. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 14,421 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 3,475 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

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.