SM Energy (SM) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 on May 5th

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 27th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the energy company on Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th.

SM Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 236.2% annually over the last three years. SM Energy has a payout ratio of 12.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect SM Energy to earn $7.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.1%.

SM Energy Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of SM opened at $21.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 3.75. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $19.67 and a 1 year high of $51.94.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The energy company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.09). SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 28.63%. The company had revenue of $852.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $849.44 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Mizuho lowered their target price on SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Williams Trading set a $41.00 price target on SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Seven equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at SM Energy

In related news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. purchased 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.36 per share, with a total value of $226,520.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,591.76. This trade represents a 91.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% 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.