SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Up 6.9% – Still a Buy?

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) was up 6.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $28.19 and last traded at $28.1750. 3,014,697 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 5,644,954 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Susquehanna upped their price target on SM Energy from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. KeyCorp raised their price objective on SM Energy from $29.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

SM Energy Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.17 and its 200 day moving average is $25.75. The company has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 0.73.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.76 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is currently 36.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total transaction of $834,310.94. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. This trade represents a 27.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in SM Energy by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after buying an additional 19,965 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 43.9% during 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 last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,969 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in SM Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

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.