SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $28.08, but opened at $26.44. SM Energy shares last traded at $25.3130, with a volume of 863,471 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SM shares. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on SM Energy from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Siebert Williams Shank lowered SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.31.

SM Energy Stock Down 8.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.10. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.The firm had revenue of $704.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $764.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.91 EPS. SM Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This is a positive change from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.58%.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 27.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after purchasing an additional 19,965 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 44,542 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,969 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $222,000. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.