Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Purchases 267,789 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 221.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 388,761 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 267,789 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $15,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SM. Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in SM Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $83,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake 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. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 517.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,140 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 3,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. purchased 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $32.36 per share, with a total value of $226,520.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,591.76. This represents a 91.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $41.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.00.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $29.42 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.68 and a 200 day moving average of $39.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 4.14. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $26.66 and a 12 month high of $53.26.

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

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.98%.

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.