Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Stock Position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,234,890 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 25,857 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 1.08% of SM Energy worth $47,864,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,321 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,746 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 24,739 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $959,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the period. Heritage Family Offices LLP boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 6,237 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,179 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 target price (up from $51.00) on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at SM Energy

In other news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. acquired 7,000 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.36 per share, for a total transaction of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 14,666 shares in the company, valued at $474,591.76. This represents a 91.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SM Energy Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of SM Energy stock opened at $27.60 on Thursday. SM Energy has a 52-week low of $26.66 and a 52-week high of $53.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $38.84 and a 200 day moving average of $41.18. The company has a quick ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 4.14.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The energy company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $852.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $849.44 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 28.63% and a return on equity of 19.82%. As a group, research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.98%.

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.