SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Reaches New 52-Week High After Dividend Announcement

SM Energy (NYSE:SM)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $49.93 and last traded at $49.51, with a volume of 59044 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.65.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SM shares. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of SM Energy from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Monday, February 5th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $56.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.86.

SM Energy Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $41.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.56. The company has a market cap of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 4.20.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The energy company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.17. SM Energy had a net margin of 34.45% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The firm had revenue of $608.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 5.72 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of SM Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SM. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new stake in SM Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $50,075,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in SM Energy by 289.7% during the first quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,647,133 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $46,383,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,422 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in SM Energy in the third quarter valued at about $46,492,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 5.3% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,425,526 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $677,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 88.5% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,229,142 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $86,825,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,602 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently 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.