SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday after Truist Financial upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $29.05, but opened at $30.10. SM Energy shares last traded at $30.9140, with a volume of 1,037,793 shares changing hands.

SM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SM Energy from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Susquehanna cut their price target on SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Siebert Williams Shank downgraded SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,257,360 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $118,267,000 after purchasing an additional 107,295 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in SM Energy by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,921,769 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $147,876,000 after buying an additional 30,951 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in SM Energy by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,585,624 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $114,503,000 after buying an additional 375,754 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in SM Energy by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,731,350 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $92,202,000 after buying an additional 524,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 205.1% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Trading Up 3.8%

The firm has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 5.58 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $22.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. SM Energy had a net margin of 20.55% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The firm had revenue of $704.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $764.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. SM Energy’s payout ratio is presently 15.58%.

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.