Brokerages Set SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Target Price at $55.11

Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.11.

A number of research firms have weighed in on SM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on SM Energy from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho raised 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. StockNews.com upgraded SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on SM Energy from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd.

SM Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

SM opened at $43.23 on Thursday. SM Energy has a 52 week low of $29.51 and a 52 week high of $53.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.39. The firm has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.78 and a beta of 4.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $559.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.21 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 31.80%. On average, equities analysts expect that SM Energy will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

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 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SM Energy

In other SM Energy news, SVP Kenneth J. Knott sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth $2,992,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth $3,373,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 574,120 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $22,230,000 after purchasing an additional 123,126 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,593,103 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $61,685,000 after purchasing an additional 64,781 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 198,380 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $7,681,000 after purchasing an additional 21,102 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

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.