StockNews.com Lowers SM Energy (NYSE:SM) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on SM Energy from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on SM Energy from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on SM Energy from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Stephens reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on SM Energy from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $54.89.

SM Energy Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $44.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a PE ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 4.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $47.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.79. SM Energy has a 52-week low of $32.21 and a 52-week high of $53.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.13. SM Energy had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 31.80%. The company had revenue of $559.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.21 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SM Energy will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kenneth J. Knott sold 16,000 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.28, for a total transaction of $804,480.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 114,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,756,808.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SM. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in SM Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 509.7% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 567 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 581 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 665.6% in the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 689 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in SM Energy by 66.8% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 829 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

About SM Energy

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.