SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Announces $0.18 Quarterly Dividend

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, June 24th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the energy company on Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 19th.

SM Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 210.7% per year over the last three years. SM Energy has a payout ratio of 9.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect SM Energy to earn $7.46 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.7%.

SM Energy Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $49.84 on Tuesday. SM Energy has a 12-month low of $29.15 and a 12-month high of $53.26. The company has a market capitalization of $5.73 billion, a PE ratio of 7.81 and a beta of 4.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $48.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.15.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 31.80% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $559.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.21 million. Equities analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on SM. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Kenneth J. Knott sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.28, for a total transaction of $804,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 114,495 shares in the company, valued at $5,756,808.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% 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.