SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Cut to Underperform at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial cut shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) from an outperform rating to an underperform rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on SM. KeyCorp lowered their target price on SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on SM Energy from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.08.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM Energy stock opened at $25.43 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $24.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 2.19. SM Energy has a 52 week low of $19.67 and a 52 week high of $48.49.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $844.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $814.62 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.90% and a net margin of 27.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 50.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.20%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 97,851 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,931,000 after buying an additional 23,386 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 16.2% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 13,306 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 1,854 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $539,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SM Energy by 0.6% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 123,349 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,694,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 104,654 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.