Insider Selling: SM Energy (NYSE:SM) EVP Sells $647,850.00 in Stock

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) EVP James Barker Lebeck sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,705 shares in the company, valued at $544,379.10. The trade was a 54.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

SM Energy Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $35.36 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $30.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 0.73. SM Energy Company has a 52-week low of $17.45 and a 52-week high of $38.25. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.50 earnings per share. SM Energy’s revenue was up 215.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 7.36 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after acquiring an additional 19,965 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in SM Energy by 43.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 145,922 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,370,000 after purchasing an additional 44,542 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in SM Energy by 4.6% in the first 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 stake in SM Energy by 44.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in SM Energy in the first quarter valued at $222,000. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SM shares. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on SM Energy from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised SM Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Roth Capital upgraded SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 22nd. One research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.93.

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.