Truist Financial Has Lowered Expectations for SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Stock Price

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) had its target price dropped by analysts at Truist Financial from $39.00 to $37.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the energy company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 40.36% from the stock’s previous close.

SM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research cut shares of SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of SM Energy from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Siebert Williams Shank raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $41.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.00.

SM Energy Trading Down 1.8%

SM Energy stock opened at $26.36 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $30.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $17.45 and a 12 month high of $35.88. The stock has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 0.73.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 3.45%.SM Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total transaction of $834,310.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 65,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,241,456.72. This trade represents a 27.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 79.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $311,678,000 after buying an additional 4,426,751 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 205.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 268.3% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,271,757 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $42,482,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,891 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 198.9% during the third quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,429,518 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $60,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,275,000. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.