SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

SM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of SM Energy from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Mizuho raised SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research lowered SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised SM Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.93.

SM Energy Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of SM stock opened at $38.00 on Friday. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $17.45 and a 1 year high of $38.25. The stock has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s fifty day moving average is $31.43 and its 200-day moving average is $29.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 215.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that SM Energy will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In other news, EVP James Barker Lebeck sold 17,500 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.02, for a total transaction of $647,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $544,379.10. The trade was a 54.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $1,025,229,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in SM Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $378,288,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in SM Energy by 79.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $311,678,000 after buying an additional 4,426,751 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in SM Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $199,602,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in SM Energy by 2,798.5% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 7,257,236 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $189,414,000 after buying an additional 7,006,855 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SM Energy Company Profile

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.