SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $31.44 and last traded at $31.1080, with a volume of 2427864 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $30.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Siebert Williams Shank lowered SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $36.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on SM Energy from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.67.

SM Energy Stock Up 3.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $22.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.68. The firm has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 5.58 and a beta of 1.03.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. SM Energy had a net margin of 20.55% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The firm had revenue of $704.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $764.40 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.91 EPS. SM Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is currently 15.58%.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in SM Energy by 205.1% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,835,718 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $53,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906,255 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in SM Energy by 268.3% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,271,757 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $42,482,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,891 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in SM Energy by 198.9% during the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,429,518 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $60,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616,822 shares during the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the fourth quarter worth $20,275,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the second quarter worth $25,179,000. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About SM Energy

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.