Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 3,971 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 93% compared to the average daily volume of 2,058 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in SM Energy in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 316.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,200 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 160.5% in the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,347 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in SM Energy by 10,461.5% during the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,373 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,360 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on SM Energy from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Zacks Research upgraded SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. TD Cowen raised SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Stephens raised their price target on SM Energy from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Mizuho set a $34.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.20.

SM Energy Stock Down 0.4%

SM stock opened at $24.09 on Wednesday. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $17.45 and a fifty-two week high of $32.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $705.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $764.40 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.91 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. SM Energy’s payout ratio is currently 14.16%.

SM Energy Company Profile

SM Energy Company (NYSE: SM) is an independent energy firm engaged in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company focuses on identifying and exploiting unconventional onshore basins, leveraging advanced drilling and completion techniques to optimize resource recovery. SM Energy’s operations are supported by an integrated approach to reservoir management and strategic midstream partnerships, enabling efficient transportation and marketing of hydrocarbons.

The company’s core asset areas include prolific basins such as the Permian, Eagle Ford, and the Rocky Mountain region.