SM Energy Company to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 (NYSE:SM)

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the energy company on Monday, August 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th.

SM Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 14.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect SM Energy to earn $7.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.1%.

SM Energy Trading Down 1.2%

SM stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $25.14. 2,963,549 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,973,638. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.87. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $19.67 and a 1 year high of $48.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 2.19.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.16. SM Energy had a net margin of 27.61% and a return on equity of 19.90%. The company had revenue of $844.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $814.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. SM Energy's quarterly revenue was up 50.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 16th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of SM Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $42.08.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SM. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 1.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 375,916 shares of the energy company's stock worth $11,259,000 after acquiring an additional 4,113 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 43.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 145,922 shares of the energy company's stock worth $4,370,000 after acquiring an additional 44,542 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in SM Energy by 27.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company's stock worth $2,753,000 after acquiring an additional 19,965 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in SM Energy by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 68,111 shares of the energy company's stock worth $2,040,000 after acquiring an additional 2,969 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in SM Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $222,000. 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.