SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Stock Rating Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday. Seaport Research Partners initiated coverage on shares of SM Energy in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. They set a “sell” rating and a $35.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings raised SM Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.81.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of SM Energy stock opened at $37.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.31 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.23. SM Energy had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 18.20%.The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 215.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP James Barker Lebeck sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.02, for a total transaction of $647,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,705 shares in the company, valued at $544,379.10. The trade was a 54.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ashwin Venkatraman sold 3,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.28, for a total transaction of $139,722.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 12,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,457. The trade was a 22.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,025,229,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $378,288,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 79.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $311,678,000 after buying an additional 4,426,751 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $199,602,000. Finally, Webs Creek Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $53,257,807. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development, and production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Its operations focus on onshore properties in the United States, with activities concentrated in major producing regions such as the Permian Basin in West Texas and the South Texas Eagle Ford.

The company’s products include crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids, which it sells to energy marketers, midstream companies, and other purchasers.