SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $27.81, but opened at $28.83. SM Energy shares last traded at $29.1740, with a volume of 372,573 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $36.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. KeyCorp raised their price target on SM Energy from $29.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Raymond James Financial upgraded SM Energy from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.00.

SM Energy Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $30.06 and its 200 day moving average is $26.01. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. SM Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 7.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 36.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the company’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 sale, the director directly owned 65,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,241,456.72. This represents a 27.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 27.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,753,000 after purchasing an additional 19,965 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in SM Energy by 43.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 145,922 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,370,000 after buying an additional 44,542 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in SM Energy by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 68,111 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,040,000 after buying an additional 2,969 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in SM Energy by 44.9% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth $222,000. 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.