SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Price Target Lowered to $50.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $51.00 to $50.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the energy company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on SM. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com raised SM Energy from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on SM Energy from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on SM Energy from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $54.44.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM stock opened at $45.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.12 and a beta of 4.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.46. SM Energy has a 12-month low of $34.13 and a 12-month high of $53.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $559.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $568.21 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 31.80%. On average, equities analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 7.09 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 19th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 11.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SM Energy news, SVP Kenneth J. Knott sold 16,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.28, for a total transaction of $804,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 114,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,756,808.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SM Energy

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,509,379 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $213,326,000 after purchasing an additional 493,427 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,593,103 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $61,685,000 after purchasing an additional 64,781 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 20.0% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,552,004 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $77,367,000 after purchasing an additional 258,733 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 0.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,335,624 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $57,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,077,231 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $41,710,000 after purchasing an additional 198,473 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.