Congress Asset Management Co. Increases Stock Holdings in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Congress Asset Management Co. raised its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor 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. owned approximately 0.95% of SM Energy worth $43,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SM. Diversified Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $819,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 509.7% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 567 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in SM Energy by 12.2% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 842,960 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $42,022,000 after buying an additional 91,507 shares in the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its holdings in SM Energy by 31.1% in the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 13,351 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $666,000 after acquiring an additional 3,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter worth $477,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com lowered SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.73.

SM Energy Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE SM traded down $0.40 during trading on Thursday, hitting $42.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 141,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,726,578. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $34.13 and a fifty-two week high of $53.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a PE ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 4.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.40.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.28. SM Energy had a net margin of 33.18% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $634.56 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $616.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 7.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

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

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.