SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings 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 target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.9333.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SM. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th.

SM Energy Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of SM opened at $30.23 on Friday. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $17.45 and a fifty-two week high of $35.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.06 and a 200 day moving average of $26.32. The firm has a market cap of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. SM Energy had a net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The company’s revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 7.13 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 36.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SM Energy

In related news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total transaction of $834,310.94. Following the sale, the director directly owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,241,456.72. The trade was a 27.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in SM Energy by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC now owns 13,777 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 3.8% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,108 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 415.5% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,897 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 1,529 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,633,000. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

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.