Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires 73,729 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 344.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 95,140 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 73,729 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC owned about 0.08% of SM Energy worth $3,803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SM. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SM Energy by 79.2% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 65,421 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,615,000 after purchasing an additional 28,920 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in SM Energy by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 593,241 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $25,646,000 after buying an additional 27,405 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 19.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 764,118 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $38,093,000 after buying an additional 124,450 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 82.2% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 411,103 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $17,772,000 after acquiring an additional 185,433 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 144.6% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 22,357 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $894,000 after acquiring an additional 13,215 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on SM. TD Cowen upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Stephens boosted their price target on SM Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on SM Energy from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.09.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM Energy stock opened at $46.03 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.77 and a 200-day moving average of $44.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 4.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a current ratio of 3.52. SM Energy has a 52 week low of $34.13 and a 52 week high of $53.26.

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

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. This is a positive change from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. 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.