SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.9333.

SM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Siebert Williams Shank raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $30.00 to $41.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded SM Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 30th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners assumed coverage on SM Energy in a research report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company.

SM Energy Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of SM opened at $36.51 on Friday. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $17.45 and a twelve month high of $38.94. The stock has a market cap of $8.68 billion, a PE ratio of 7.19 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $32.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.94.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. SM Energy had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 17.93%. SM Energy’s revenue was up 215.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In related news, EVP James Barker Lebeck sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.02, for a total value of $647,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $544,379.10. This represents a 54.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in SM Energy by 234.2% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,780 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 2,649 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 64.7% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 175,161 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,572,000 after purchasing an additional 68,816 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 47.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 13,768 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 4,404 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,965,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 2,798.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 7,257,236 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $189,414,000 after purchasing an additional 7,006,855 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by 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.