Investors Buy Large Volume of SM Energy Call Options (NYSE:SM)

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 4,978 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 333% compared to the typical volume of 1,149 call options.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SM. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 27.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after purchasing an additional 19,965 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in SM Energy by 43.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 145,922 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,370,000 after buying an additional 44,542 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 68,111 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,040,000 after buying an additional 2,969 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 44.9% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $17.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $17.45 and a fifty-two week high of $44.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.38.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The energy company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.08. SM Energy had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 22.03%.The firm had revenue of $811.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SM. Zacks Research raised shares of SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on SM Energy to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Roth Capital set a $28.00 price target on SM Energy in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on SM Energy from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.55.

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.