Natixis Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,942 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 13,770 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $1,636,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in SM Energy by 461.9% during the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 590 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 63.9% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 872 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the second quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in SM Energy by 3,434.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,025 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp cut their price objective on SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on SM Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.09.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $45.13 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $42.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.59. 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 capitalization of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 6.30 and a beta of 4.18. SM Energy has a 1-year low of $34.13 and a 1-year high of $53.26.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $643.60 million during 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 revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.73 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that SM Energy will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.17%.

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.