Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC acquired a new position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 100,685 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,024,000. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC owned approximately 0.09% of SM Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the 1st quarter worth $5,614,000. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 1,733.5% during the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 102,307 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $5,100,000 after acquiring an additional 96,727 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $710,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 4.8% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 593,241 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $25,646,000 after purchasing an additional 27,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in 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 valued at $38,093,000 after purchasing an additional 124,450 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:SM traded up $0.18 during trading on Thursday, reaching $42.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 104,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,738,483. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $34.13 and a 12 month high of $53.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 6.58 and a beta of 4.18.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $634.56 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $616.63 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 33.18% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that SM Energy will post 6.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on SM shares. Mizuho reduced their price objective on SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SM Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.73.

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.