Brokerages Set SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) PT at $34.00

Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $34.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SM shares. Mizuho set a $34.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on SM Energy to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 20th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on SM Energy from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research cut SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of SM Energy by 27.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,753,000 after acquiring an additional 19,965 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 43.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 145,922 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,370,000 after purchasing an additional 44,542 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in SM Energy by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 68,111 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,040,000 after purchasing an additional 2,969 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in SM Energy by 44.9% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $18.69 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $17.45 and a fifty-two week high of $41.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.83.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The energy company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $811.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $838.24 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 22.03%.The business’s revenue was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 26th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.62%.

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.