SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Price Target Cut to $42.00 by Analysts at Mizuho

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) had its price objective decreased by Mizuho from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the energy company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on SM. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.92.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM opened at $25.62 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.00. 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 1 year low of $19.67 and a 1 year high of $50.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 2.17.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $844.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $814.62 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 28.63% and a return on equity of 19.82%. SM Energy’s revenue was up 50.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SM Energy news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. acquired 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,666 shares in the company, valued at $474,591.76. This trade represents a 91.31% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 47.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 250,218 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $10,002,000 after purchasing an additional 80,343 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 11,049 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 2,054 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in SM Energy in the fourth quarter worth $1,051,000. Heritage Family Offices LLP boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 6,237 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 349,268 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $13,538,000 after purchasing an additional 11,191 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

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.