SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) Stock Has Average Target Price of $40.59 According to Analysts

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.59.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Seaport Research Partners initiated coverage on shares of SM Energy in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ashwin Venkatraman sold 3,650 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.28, for a total value of $139,722.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 12,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $479,457. The trade was a 22.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP James Barker Lebeck sold 17,500 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.02, for a total transaction of $647,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $544,379.10. This trade represents a 54.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in SM Energy in the second quarter worth $1,025,229,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the second quarter worth $378,288,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the second quarter worth $199,602,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 79.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $311,678,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webs Creek Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the second quarter valued at $53,257,807. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $40.10 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 0.95. SM Energy has a one year low of $17.45 and a one year high of $41.56.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. SM Energy had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 17.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 215.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that SM Energy will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.32%.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its activities include acquiring prospective acreage, drilling and completing wells, and managing producing properties in U.S. onshore oil and gas basins.

The company’s operations are primarily concentrated in Texas, including the Midland Basin in West Texas and the Eagle Ford shale region in South Texas. SM Energy focuses on development of unconventional resources and uses horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies to produce hydrocarbons from shale and other tight-rock formations.

Founded in 1908 as St.