SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Stock Price Down 4% – Here’s Why

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) dropped 4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $42.60 and last traded at $42.74. Approximately 194,226 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 1,678,390 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SM has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on 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. Mizuho cut their target price on SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on SM Energy from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.09.

SM Energy Stock Down 5.8 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.26 and a 200 day moving average of $44.41. The company has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 4.14. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.67 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 33.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.73 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.91%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is presently 11.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $445,000. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in SM Energy in the third quarter valued at $3,048,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in SM Energy by 5.6% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 33,173 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,774 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in SM Energy in the third quarter valued at $2,376,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,693,372 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $107,675,000 after acquiring an additional 29,911 shares during the last quarter. 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.