Analysts Set SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) Price Target at $37.07

Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.0714.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SM. KeyCorp increased their target price on SM Energy from $29.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on SM Energy from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on SM Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $24.00) on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $834,310.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 65,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,241,456.72. This trade represents a 27.13% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in SM Energy by 79.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $311,678,000 after buying an additional 4,426,751 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in SM Energy by 205.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,835,718 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $53,028,000 after buying an additional 1,906,255 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position 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 valued at $42,482,000 after buying an additional 1,654,891 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its position 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 valued at $60,665,000 after buying an additional 1,616,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sagefield Capital LP bought a new position in SM Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,275,000. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $34.28 on Thursday. SM Energy has a 52-week low of $17.45 and a 52-week high of $35.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.40 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $30.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 3.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 7.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.97%.

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.