Barton R. Brookman, Jr. Purchases 7,000 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Stock

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. bought 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $32.36 per share, with a total value of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474,591.76. This represents a 91.31 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

SM Energy Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $32.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a current ratio of 0.55. SM Energy has a 52-week low of $31.80 and a 52-week high of $53.26. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.47. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 4.11.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The energy company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.09). SM Energy had a net margin of 28.63% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The business had revenue of $852.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $849.44 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.98%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SM Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SM. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 2,515.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463,443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $178,404,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,793 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,632,255 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $179,546,000 after purchasing an additional 835,929 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,683,131 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $103,998,000 after purchasing an additional 767,779 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $22,059,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 214.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 519,302 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $20,128,000 after purchasing an additional 354,297 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on SM. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price objective (up from $51.00) on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, SM Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.90.

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.