SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on SM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on SM Energy from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Mizuho increased their price target on SM Energy from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on SM Energy from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SM Energy currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $54.57.

SM Energy Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE:SM opened at $47.52 on Tuesday. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $27.37 and a twelve month high of $53.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $49.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.72. The company has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.25 and a beta of 4.16.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.21 million. As a group, analysts expect that SM Energy will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.29%.

Insider Transactions at SM Energy

In other SM Energy news, SVP Kenneth J. Knott sold 16,000 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.28, for a total value of $804,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 114,495 shares in the company, valued at $5,756,808.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,075,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 72.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,054,503 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $81,461,000 after buying an additional 865,480 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 848.7% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 877,739 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $33,986,000 after buying an additional 785,222 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,509,379 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $213,326,000 after buying an additional 493,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in SM Energy by 44.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,163,332 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $46,126,000 after purchasing an additional 358,253 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by 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.