SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.20 Per Share

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the energy company on Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18.

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 9.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect SM Energy to earn $7.92 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 10.1%.

SM Energy Stock Performance

NYSE SM opened at $42.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 4.18. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $34.13 and a twelve month high of $53.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.75. 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 (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.28. SM Energy had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 33.18%. The company had revenue of $634.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $616.63 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that SM Energy will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SM shares. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.73.

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.