SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Upgraded at UBS Group

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) was upgraded by analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on SM. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, 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 research note on Monday, May 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.93.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $29.97 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.24. SM Energy has a 52-week low of $17.45 and a 52-week high of $35.88.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 3.45%.The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.76 earnings per share. SM Energy’s revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total transaction of $834,310.94. Following the transaction, the director owned 65,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,241,456.72. The trade was a 27.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SM. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake 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 valued at $2,753,000 after buying an additional 19,965 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 43.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 145,922 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,370,000 after buying an additional 44,542 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 68,111 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,040,000 after buying an additional 2,969 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 44.9% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $222,000. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.