Summit Midstream Partners (NYSE:SMC) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Summit Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:SMC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $35.05 and last traded at $34.6470, with a volume of 160923 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $31.84.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SMC. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Summit Midstream Partners in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target for the company. Summit Redstone set a $39.00 price objective on Summit Midstream Partners in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Summit Midstream Partners from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.67.

Summit Midstream Partners Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $704.69 million, a PE ratio of -31.21 and a beta of 0.71.

Summit Midstream Partners (NYSE:SMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.36) by $0.47. Summit Midstream Partners had a negative return on equity of 0.04% and a negative net margin of 0.06%.The firm had revenue of $155.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.00 million. On average, research analysts expect that Summit Midstream Partners, LP will post -0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Summit Midstream Partners announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, June 1st that allows the company to buyback $35.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP James David Johnston sold 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.72, for a total transaction of $77,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 75,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,239,610.04. This trade represents a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jerry L. Peters sold 10,000 shares of Summit Midstream Partners stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,328. This trade represents a 37.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 42.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMC. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Summit Midstream Partners by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 971,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,908,000 after acquiring an additional 2,983 shares in the last quarter. Deltroit Asset Management UK LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Summit Midstream Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $18,864,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Summit Midstream Partners by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 238,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,353,000 after purchasing an additional 7,497 shares in the last quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Summit Midstream Partners by 99.4% during the fourth quarter. ARK & TLK Investments LLC now owns 223,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,964,000 after purchasing an additional 111,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Summit Midstream Partners by 320.2% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 204,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,923,000 after purchasing an additional 155,655 shares during the last quarter. 42.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Summit Midstream Partners Company Profile

Summit Midstream Partners is a publicly traded master limited partnership that provides gathering, compression, processing and transportation services for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and crude oil in key U.S. onshore basins. The company’s assets include a network of intrastate and interstate pipelines, processing plants, fractionators and storage facilities designed to serve producers, marketers and end users throughout the Appalachian, Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent and Western Canadian Sedimentary basins.

In the Appalachian region, Summit operates extensive gathering lines and multiple gas-processing complexes connected to the Mountaineer NGL Hub, one of the largest fractionation and storage hubs in the Mid-Atlantic.