SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Stock Rating Upgraded by Seaport Research Partners

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) was upgraded by analysts at Seaport Research Partners to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

SM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised SM Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $47.00 in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Siebert Williams Shank raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.93.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM stock opened at $37.51 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.88 and a 200 day moving average of $29.89. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $17.45 and a 1 year high of $38.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 0.75.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. SM Energy had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 18.20%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 215.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that SM Energy will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In other news, EVP James Barker Lebeck sold 17,500 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.02, for a total transaction of $647,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $544,379.10. The trade was a 54.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in SM Energy in the second quarter valued at $1,025,229,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy in the second quarter worth about $378,288,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 79.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $311,678,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,751 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $199,602,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 2,798.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 7,257,236 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $189,414,000 after acquiring an additional 7,006,855 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

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.