Brokerages Set SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Target Price at $51.73

Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.73.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SM shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho lowered their price target on SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of SM Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Tudor Pickering raised shares of SM Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new position in SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth $819,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in SM Energy by 509.7% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 567 shares of the energy company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in SM Energy by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 842,960 shares of the energy company's stock worth $42,022,000 after purchasing an additional 91,507 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its stake in SM Energy by 31.1% during the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 13,351 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 3,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter worth $477,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company's stock.

SM Energy Price Performance

NYSE SM traded up $0.93 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $42.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 276,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,729,032. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $34.13 and a 1 year high of $53.26. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $42.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.42. The company has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.55 and a beta of 4.18.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.28. SM Energy had a net margin of 33.18% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $634.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $616.63 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. SM Energy's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that SM Energy will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This is an increase from SM Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. SM Energy's payout ratio is presently 12.54%.

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.