SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Raised to Strong-Buy at UBS Group

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) was upgraded by stock analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on SM. Zacks Research downgraded SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.93.

SM Energy Trading Up 0.8%

SM opened at $29.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $17.45 and a fifty-two week high of $35.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $30.04 and its 200 day moving average is $26.24.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. SM Energy had a net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that SM Energy will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In other news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total value of $834,310.94. Following the transaction, the director owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. The trade was a 27.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in SM Energy by 79.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $311,678,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,751 shares during the last quarter. 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 acquiring an additional 1,906,255 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its stake in SM Energy by 268.3% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,271,757 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $42,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,891 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 198.9% during the third quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,429,518 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $60,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP purchased a new stake in SM Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $20,275,000. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.