Summit Midstream Partners (NYSE:SMC) Upgraded by TD Cowen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Summit Midstream Partners (NYSE:SMC) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on SMC. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Summit Midstream Partners from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Summit Redstone set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Summit Midstream Partners in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.67.

Summit Midstream Partners Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of SMC opened at $30.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Summit Midstream Partners has a 1 year low of $19.13 and a 1 year high of $33.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.76. The firm has a market cap of $617.01 million, a P/E ratio of -16.14 and a beta of 0.71.

Summit Midstream Partners (NYSE:SMC) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.43) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.06. Summit Midstream Partners had a negative net margin of 1.09% and a negative return on equity of 0.73%. The firm had revenue of $139.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $139.88 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Summit Midstream Partners will post -0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at Summit Midstream Partners

In related news, Director Jerry L. Peters sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $320,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,328. This trade represents a 37.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP James David Johnston sold 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $77,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 75,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,239,610.04. This trade represents a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 42.96% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Summit Midstream Partners

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SMC. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Summit Midstream Partners by 320.2% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 204,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,923,000 after buying an additional 155,655 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Summit Midstream Partners by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 59,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,016,000 after buying an additional 3,041 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Summit Midstream Partners by 243.0% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 34,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after buying an additional 24,699 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Summit Midstream Partners by 138.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 231,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,678,000 after acquiring an additional 134,388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers bought a new position in shares of Summit Midstream Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at about $239,000. Institutional investors own 42.97% of the company’s stock.

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.