SM Energy (SM) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 on November 4th

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the energy company on Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18.

SM Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 210.7% per year over the last three years. SM Energy has a payout ratio of 8.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect SM Energy to earn $8.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 8.5%.

SM Energy Trading Up 4.6 %

NYSE SM opened at $39.81 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $4.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 4.18. SM Energy has a 52 week low of $34.13 and a 52 week high of $53.26.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.28. SM Energy had a net margin of 33.18% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $634.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $616.63 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that SM Energy will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on SM. Tudor Pickering upgraded SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.22.

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.