SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Receives $49.29 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $50.86.

A number of brokerages recently commented on SM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on SM Energy from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Mizuho raised their price objective on SM Energy from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on SM Energy from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of SM Energy from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday.

SM Energy Stock Performance

SM stock opened at $48.09 on Friday. SM Energy has a 1-year low of $25.03 and a 1-year high of $53.26. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $46.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.90. The company has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.00 and a beta of 4.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The energy company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.17. SM Energy had a net margin of 34.45% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business had revenue of $608.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 6.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 10.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY acquired a new position in SM Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,373,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 574,120 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $22,230,000 after acquiring an additional 123,126 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in SM Energy by 90.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 169,483 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $6,720,000 after acquiring an additional 80,653 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in SM Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,492,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in SM Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $270,000. 94.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.