Herbert S. Vogel Acquires 1,000 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Stock

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) CEO Herbert S. Vogel acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.32 per share, with a total value of $21,320.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 488,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,406,313.32. This trade represents a 0.21 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $23.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.29. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $19.67 and a fifty-two week high of $51.22. The company has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 2.17.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.16. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 28.63%. The business had revenue of $844.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $814.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.20%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in SM Energy by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,730 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,854 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 47.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 250,218 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $10,002,000 after buying an additional 80,343 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in SM Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,822 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $24,644,000 after buying an additional 24,701 shares in the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA purchased a new position in SM Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $396,000. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 132,267 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $5,127,000 after acquiring an additional 31,582 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com downgraded SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Stephens decreased their target price on SM Energy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.00.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St.