HighTower Advisors LLC Has $473,000 Stake in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,867 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $473,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

SM Energy Price Performance

NYSE:SM opened at $36.59 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $42.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 3.52. The company has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.11 and a beta of 4.14. SM Energy has a one year low of $34.76 and a one year high of $53.26.

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

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SM shares. StockNews.com cut shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price objective (up from $51.00) on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.64.

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.