SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Given Sector Perform Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their sector perform rating on shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $54.00 price objective on the energy company’s stock.

SM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. StockNews.com lowered SM Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on SM Energy from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on SM Energy from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $54.89.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of SM opened at $44.93 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $32.21 and a 1 year high of $53.26. The stock has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 4.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $47.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.79.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $559.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.21 million. On average, equities analysts predict that SM Energy will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 19th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SM Energy news, SVP Kenneth J. Knott sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SM. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,075,000. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its stake in SM Energy by 848.7% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 877,739 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $33,986,000 after purchasing an additional 785,222 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in SM Energy by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,509,379 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $213,326,000 after purchasing an additional 493,427 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in SM Energy by 44.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,163,332 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $46,126,000 after purchasing an additional 358,253 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in SM Energy by 391.2% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 310,558 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $13,491,000 after purchasing an additional 247,331 shares during the period. 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.