Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 138,865 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC reduced its stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 545,586 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 138,865 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned 0.47% of SM Energy worth $21,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 384,675 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,361,149 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $102,072,000 after purchasing an additional 28,005 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in SM Energy by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,335,624 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $57,739,000 after buying an additional 4,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in SM Energy by 929.6% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,159,488 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $50,125,000 after buying an additional 1,046,872 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SM shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Tudor Pickering raised SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on SM Energy from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SM Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.73.

SM Energy Stock Performance

SM Energy stock opened at $42.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.70. SM Energy has a 52-week low of $34.13 and a 52-week high of $53.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.69 and a beta of 4.18.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.28. SM Energy had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 33.18%. The firm had revenue of $634.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $616.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 6.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is a positive change from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.54%.

SM Energy 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.