SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $36.08 and last traded at $35.7760, with a volume of 7787 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $35.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on SM. Siebert Williams Shank raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded SM Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research cut SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on SM Energy from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.93.

SM Energy Trading Up 1.7%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.93 and a 200-day moving average of $28.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 0.73.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.23. SM Energy had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 18.20%.The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 215.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Torren Management LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 4,561.1% in the first quarter. Torren Management LLC now owns 839 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 821 shares during the last quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Kilter Group LLC bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.