SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday.

SM has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of SM Energy from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $52.57.

SM Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

SM Energy stock opened at $50.44 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $25.03 and a 12 month high of $53.26. The stock has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.34 and a beta of 4.20.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The energy company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.17. SM Energy had a net margin of 34.45% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $608.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $611.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. SM Energy’s revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 10.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in SM Energy by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,509,379 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $213,326,000 after acquiring an additional 493,427 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in SM Energy by 72.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,054,503 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $81,461,000 after acquiring an additional 865,480 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in SM Energy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,593,103 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $61,685,000 after acquiring an additional 64,781 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of SM Energy by 5.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,547,315 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $61,351,000 after buying an additional 83,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $50,075,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St.