SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Acquired by Congress Asset Management Co.

Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,090,635 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,009 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $43,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 6.5% in 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 during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 1.2% in 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 last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in SM Energy by 10.2% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,709,927 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $73,920,000 after acquiring an additional 157,923 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in SM Energy by 0.3% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 4,611 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,046,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho decreased their price target on SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.73.

SM Energy Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:SM traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $42.10. The stock had a trading volume of 141,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,726,578. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 4.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $42.59 and its 200-day moving average is $45.40. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $34.13 and a 1 year high of $53.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.28. SM Energy had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 33.18%. The company had revenue of $634.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $616.63 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. SM Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that SM Energy will post 7.06 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.54%.

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.