SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade
by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat GemSM Energy Company (NYSE:SM – Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $29.00 to $32.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. SM Energy traded as high as $33.54 and last traded at $33.6410, with a volume of 1190808 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.59.
SM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stephens boosted their price target on SM Energy from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Zacks Research raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (up from $24.00) on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on SM Energy from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.29.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on SM
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in SM Energy by 79.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $311,678,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,751 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in SM Energy by 205.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,835,718 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $53,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,255 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in SM Energy by 268.3% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,271,757 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $42,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,891 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in SM Energy by 198.9% during the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,429,518 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $60,665,000 after buying an additional 1,616,822 shares during the period. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP purchased a new stake in SM Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $20,275,000. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.
SM Energy Stock Up 3.4%
The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.99. The company has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39.
SM Energy (NYSE:SM – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. SM Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
SM Energy Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. SM Energy’s payout ratio is currently 36.97%.
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.