SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Lifted to “Buy” at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.

Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. upgraded shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on SM. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of SM Energy from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on SM Energy from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SM Energy currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $54.22.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $45.81 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $45.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.20. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $34.13 and a 12 month high of $53.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 4.20.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $634.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $616.63 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 31.80% and a return on equity of 20.10%. SM Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that SM Energy will post 7.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.29%.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in SM Energy by 6.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,341,875 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $274,161,000 after purchasing an additional 384,675 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in SM Energy by 1.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,361,149 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $102,072,000 after acquiring an additional 28,005 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in SM Energy by 10.2% during the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,709,927 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $73,920,000 after buying an additional 157,923 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in SM Energy by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,593,103 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $61,685,000 after purchasing an additional 64,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in SM Energy by 0.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,335,624 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $57,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,611 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

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.