SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Trading Up 8.3% – Should You Buy?

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) shares shot up 8.3% on Monday . The company traded as high as $31.03 and last traded at $31.2750. Approximately 585,485 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 5,325,030 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SM. Weiss Ratings upgraded SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group initiated coverage on SM Energy in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research cut SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Finally, Siebert Williams Shank raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $41.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.53.

SM Energy Price Performance

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’s 50 day moving average price is $29.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.78. The stock has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 0.73.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.23. SM Energy had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 17.93%. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 215.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 17.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total value of $834,310.94. Following the sale, the director owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. This represents a 27.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in SM Energy during the second quarter worth $1,025,229,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of SM Energy by 79.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $311,678,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,751 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 205.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,835,718 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $53,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,255 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $43,259,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 268.3% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,271,757 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $42,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,891 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.