SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Up 6.2% After Dividend Announcement

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)’s stock price shot up 6.2% on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $19.27 and last traded at $19.4050. 1,608,769 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 2,396,281 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.27.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 26th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 12.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Mizuho set a $38.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.91.

SM Energy Stock Up 6.0%

The company has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a PE ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The energy company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $811.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.24 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 16.67% and a net margin of 22.03%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SM Energy by 663.7% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,884,536 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $56,442,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637,779 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 198.9% in the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,429,518 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $60,665,000 after buying an additional 1,616,822 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,179,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of SM Energy by 182.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,082,414 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,746,000 after purchasing an additional 699,115 shares during the period. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $29,608,000 after purchasing an additional 685,118 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SM Energy Company Profile

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St.