SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Up 6.9% – What’s Next?

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) shares traded up 6.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $33.27 and last traded at $33.2380. 1,187,044 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 5,847,463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.08.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. National Bank Financial set a $30.00 price objective on SM Energy in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Raymond James Financial upgraded SM Energy from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (up from $24.00) on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.07.

SM Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.62.

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

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 36.97%.

Insider Transactions at SM Energy

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total value of $834,310.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. This represents a 27.13% decrease in their position. The sale 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 company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SM. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after buying an additional 19,965 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 43.9% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 4.6% during the 1st 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 last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 44.9% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.