SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 26th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the energy company on Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%.

SM Energy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 210.7% annually over the last three years. SM Energy has a payout ratio of 10.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect SM Energy to earn $7.22 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 11.1%.

SM Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of SM traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.68. 992,709 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,666,360. SM Energy has a 52 week low of $34.76 and a 52 week high of $53.26. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 4.15. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $643.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.67 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 33.89%. The company's revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.73 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upgraded SM Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $53.00 price target (up previously from $51.00) on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.64.

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.