Wall Street Zen Upgrades SM Energy (NYSE:SM) to “Buy”

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

SM has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Mizuho set a $34.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.62.

SM Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SM opened at $29.42 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $28.12 and its 200-day moving average is $22.56. SM Energy has a 52-week low of $17.45 and a 52-week high of $33.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36 and a beta of 0.73.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. SM Energy had a net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 6.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in SM Energy by 27.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after acquiring an additional 19,965 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in SM Energy by 43.9% in the first 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. increased its stake in SM Energy by 4.6% in the first 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 period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in SM Energy by 44.9% in the first 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 period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in SM Energy in the first quarter valued at about $222,000. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Company Profile

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.