SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $28.08, but opened at $26.44. SM Energy shares last traded at $25.3130, with a volume of 863,471 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens upped their price objective on SM Energy from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded SM Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on SM Energy from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Siebert Williams Shank cut SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho set a $34.00 price objective on SM Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.31.

SM Energy Stock Down 7.5%

The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.40 and a 200-day moving average of $22.11. The company has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 0.78. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.10. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.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 quarterly revenue was down 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost 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 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in SM Energy during the third quarter worth about $4,619,000. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in SM Energy by 19.9% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,212,775 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $30,283,000 after acquiring an additional 201,704 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in SM Energy during the third quarter worth about $1,190,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its holdings in SM Energy by 135.2% during the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 254,766 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $6,362,000 after acquiring an additional 146,444 shares during the period. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in SM Energy by 70.6% during the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 574,107 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $14,335,000 after acquiring an additional 237,537 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.