SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on SM. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of SM Energy from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of SM Energy from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a report on Monday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.57.

SM Energy Stock Up 1.3 %

SM Energy stock opened at $47.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.95 and a beta of 4.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $25.03 and a twelve month high of $53.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $47.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.52.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The energy company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $608.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $611.35 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 34.45% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business’s revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that SM Energy will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SM. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in SM Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in SM Energy by 509.7% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 567 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in SM Energy by 54.9% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 581 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in SM Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 665.6% during the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 689 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St.