SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $36.08 and last traded at $35.7760, with a volume of 7787 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $35.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on SM shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Siebert Williams Shank raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Stephens cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $61.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SM Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.93.

SM Energy Trading Up 0.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $29.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.38. The firm has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.00 and a beta of 0.73.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.23. SM Energy had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 17.93%. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 215.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that SM Energy Company will post 7.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total value of $834,310.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. This trade represents a 27.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 160.5% in the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,347 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in SM Energy by 10,461.5% during the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,373 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,360 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC lifted its position in SM Energy by 4,561.1% during the first quarter. Torren Management LLC now owns 839 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 821 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 62.9% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

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.