SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Stock Price Up 6.2% After Dividend Announcement

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) shares rose 6.2% on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $19.27 and last traded at $19.4050. Approximately 1,608,769 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average daily volume of 2,396,281 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.27.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 26th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on SM. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on SM Energy from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Zacks Research upgraded SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Susquehanna decreased their target price on SM Energy to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $28.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.91.

SM Energy Stock Down 3.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.16.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The energy company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.08. SM Energy had a net margin of 22.03% and a return on equity of 16.67%. The company had revenue of $811.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $838.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in SM Energy by 69.5% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,017 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 1,097.9% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,138 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in SM Energy during the third quarter worth $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 316.7% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,200 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in SM Energy in the third quarter valued at $31,000. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

SM Energy Company Profile

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.