SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Receives Overweight Rating from Stephens

Stephens restated their overweight rating on shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $57.00 target price on the energy company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on SM. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on SM Energy from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price target (up from $51.00) on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.64.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM opened at $40.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 3.52. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $41.57 and its 200-day moving average is $43.01. SM Energy has a 12-month low of $34.76 and a 12-month high of $53.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 4.14.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $643.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.67 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 33.89%. SM Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 11.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in SM Energy by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,341,875 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $274,161,000 after purchasing an additional 384,675 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,287,815 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $251,324,000 after purchasing an additional 114,664 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 2,515.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463,443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $178,404,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,793 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,693,372 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $107,675,000 after buying an additional 29,911 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in SM Energy by 1.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,361,149 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $102,072,000 after acquiring an additional 28,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

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.