SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.10 EPS

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The energy company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.67 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 33.18% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.73 EPS.

SM Energy Stock Down 4.0 %

NYSE:SM traded down $1.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.28. The stock had a trading volume of 3,384,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,741,451. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $34.13 and a twelve month high of $53.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.30. The company has a market capitalization of $4.61 billion, a PE ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 4.18.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. This is a positive change from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens lifted their price target on SM Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.18.

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.