SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Trading Up 7.5% – Here’s What Happened

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) shares were up 7.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $20.37 and last traded at $20.4520. Approximately 3,162,346 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 5,971,958 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.03.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SM shares. Susquehanna decreased their target price on SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 26th. KeyCorp decreased their target price 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Roth Mkm set a $28.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.20.

SM Energy Trading Up 5.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $18.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.44. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.14.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. SM Energy’s revenue was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 26th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.62%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of SM Energy by 198.9% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the second quarter worth $25,179,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of SM Energy by 182.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,082,414 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,746,000 after buying an additional 699,115 shares in the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in SM Energy by 136.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 1,185,762 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,608,000 after acquiring an additional 685,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in SM Energy by 53.5% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,756,496 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $43,860,000 after purchasing an additional 612,444 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SM Energy Company Profile

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.