SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on SM. Mizuho raised shares of SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Roth Capital raised shares of SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Seaport Research Partners started coverage on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.38.

SM Energy Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE SM opened at $37.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 0.75. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $34.28 and its 200-day moving average is $31.03. SM Energy has a one year low of $17.45 and a one year high of $41.56.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.23. SM Energy had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 18.20%.The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.50 EPS. SM Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 215.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in SM Energy during the second quarter worth $1,025,229,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in SM Energy in the second quarter valued at $378,288,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in SM Energy by 79.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $311,678,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,751 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $199,602,000. Finally, Webs Creek Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,257,807. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SM Energy Company Profile

SM Energy Company (NYSE: SM) is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its operations focus on acquiring and developing oil and gas properties and producing hydrocarbons from onshore assets in the United States.

The company’s principal operations are concentrated in the Permian Basin of West Texas and the South Texas region. SM Energy has also expanded its U.S. operating portfolio through acquisitions, including assets in Utah’s Uinta Basin.