SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.00.

Several research firms have commented on SM. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on SM Energy from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Roth Mkm set a $28.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Mizuho set a $34.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Friday, January 9th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of SM Energy from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on SM Energy from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of SM opened at $18.75 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $18.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.07. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $17.45 and a fifty-two week high of $42.54. 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 (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The energy company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $811.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.24 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 22.03%.The company’s revenue was up 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 12.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.