SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Trading 3.4% Higher

SM Energy (NYSE:SM)’s share price traded up 3.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $43.34 and last traded at $43.34. 177,371 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 1,754,829 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on SM Energy from $55.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Mizuho dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Tudor Pickering upgraded SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SM Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.78.

SM Energy Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.57 and a beta of 4.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $634.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $616.63 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 33.18%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 12.54%.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SM. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 509.7% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 567 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 461.9% during the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 590 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 66.8% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 829 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 63.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 872 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.