SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $42.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SM shares. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of SM Energy from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of SM Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peregrine Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in SM Energy by 0.4% in the second quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 163,517 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $4,041,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in SM Energy by 2.5% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 59,850 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,435 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in SM Energy by 285.8% in the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 78,686 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,944,000 after acquiring an additional 58,293 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in SM Energy by 12.7% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 563,312 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $13,919,000 after acquiring an additional 63,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in SM Energy by 2.5% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 86,298 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $2,132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,119 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SM Energy Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of NYSE:SM traded down $0.96 during trading on Friday, reaching $26.63. 3,399,044 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,946,672. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 2.29. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $26.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.72. SM Energy has a 12-month low of $19.67 and a 12-month high of $47.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $792.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $792.58 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 25.94% and a return on equity of 18.43%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.85 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. SM Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.20%.

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.