SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Purchased by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 10.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,119 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,471 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $1,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in SM Energy by 6.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,341,875 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $274,161,000 after purchasing an additional 384,675 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in SM Energy by 2,515.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463,443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $178,404,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,793 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 1.2% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,361,149 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $102,072,000 after acquiring an additional 28,005 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its position in SM Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,792,573 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $71,649,000 after buying an additional 12,669 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in SM Energy by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,709,927 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $73,920,000 after purchasing an additional 157,923 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SM. Tudor Pickering upgraded SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of SM Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.09.

SM Energy Stock Down 2.1 %

SM Energy stock opened at $44.24 on Tuesday. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $34.13 and a fifty-two week high of $53.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 4.18. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.18 and its 200-day moving average is $44.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 3.52.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.10. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 33.89%. The firm had revenue of $643.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is currently 11.17%.

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.