SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) Receives $36.93 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.9333.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of SM Energy from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. KeyCorp raised their target price on SM Energy from $29.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on SM Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target for the company.

SM Energy Trading Up 0.2%

SM Energy stock opened at $31.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a PE ratio of 13.18 and a beta of 0.73. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $17.45 and a 12 month high of $35.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. SM Energy had a net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 7.13 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total value of $834,310.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. The trade was a 27.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 19,965 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 44,542 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 4.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,969 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 44.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter valued at about $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.