StockNews.com Lowers SM Energy (NYSE:SM) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on SM. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $54.44.

SM Energy Stock Down 7.3 %

SM opened at $40.90 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $46.36 and its 200 day moving average is $45.67. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $34.13 and a fifty-two week high of $53.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.41 and a beta of 4.20.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $559.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.21 million. Research analysts expect that SM Energy will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kenneth J. Knott sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were 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 approximately $5,756,808.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SM. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in SM Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in SM Energy by 509.7% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 567 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in SM Energy by 54.9% during the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 581 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in SM Energy by 665.6% during the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 689 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in SM Energy by 63.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 872 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 340 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.