Summit Midstream Partners (NYSE:SMC) Trading Up 6.1% Following Earnings Beat

Summit Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:SMC) shares were up 6.1% on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $32.74 and last traded at $33.7790. 7,937 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 61,184 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.84.

The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by $0.47. Summit Midstream Partners had a negative return on equity of 0.73% and a negative net margin of 1.09%.The business had revenue of $155.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.00 million.

Summit Midstream Partners announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, June 1st that permits the company to repurchase $35.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SMC shares. Summit Redstone set a $39.00 price target on shares of Summit Midstream Partners in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Summit Midstream Partners in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Summit Midstream Partners from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Summit Midstream Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.67.

Insider Activity

In other Summit Midstream Partners news, Director Jerry L. Peters sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $320,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,328. This represents a 37.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP James David Johnston sold 2,600 shares of Summit Midstream Partners stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total value of $77,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 75,357 shares in the company, valued at $2,239,610.04. This trade represents a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 42.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Summit Midstream Partners

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SMC. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Summit Midstream Partners during the second quarter valued at $268,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Summit Midstream Partners by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 89,796 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,715,000 after buying an additional 8,037 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Summit Midstream Partners during the 1st quarter valued at about $680,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Summit Midstream Partners in the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Summit Midstream Partners by 104.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 56,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,710,000 after acquiring an additional 28,840 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.97% of the company’s stock.

Summit Midstream Partners Trading Up 6.1%

The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.86 and a 200 day moving average of $29.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $687.09 million, a PE ratio of -17.96 and a beta of 0.71.

About Summit Midstream Partners

Summit Midstream Partners is a publicly traded master limited partnership that provides gathering, compression, processing and transportation services for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and crude oil in key U.S. onshore basins. The company’s assets include a network of intrastate and interstate pipelines, processing plants, fractionators and storage facilities designed to serve producers, marketers and end users throughout the Appalachian, Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent and Western Canadian Sedimentary basins.

In the Appalachian region, Summit operates extensive gathering lines and multiple gas-processing complexes connected to the Mountaineer NGL Hub, one of the largest fractionation and storage hubs in the Mid-Atlantic.