Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 3,971 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 93% compared to the average daily volume of 2,058 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on SM. Siebert Williams Shank downgraded SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $34.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.22.

SM Energy Stock Performance

SM stock traded up $1.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $25.54. 5,523,626 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,138,337. SM Energy has a 1-year low of $17.45 and a 1-year high of $32.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $704.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $764.40 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 15.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fearnley Asset Management AS bought a new stake in SM Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $16,379,000. Sankala Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 14,421 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 3,475 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Global Investments grew its position in SM Energy by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 46,417 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $868,000 after buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.