NFJ Investment Group LLC Purchases Shares of 74,479 SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

by · The Cerbat Gem

NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM – Free Report) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 74,479 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,977,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in 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 worth $274,161,000 after purchasing an additional 384,675 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 2,515.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463,443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $178,404,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,793 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in SM Energy by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,361,149 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $102,072,000 after buying an additional 28,005 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its position in SM Energy by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,792,573 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $71,649,000 after buying an additional 12,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $73,920,000 after buying an additional 157,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on SM. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen upgraded SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Six research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.09.

Check Out Our Latest Report on SM

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM Energy stock opened at $44.51 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.44. The company has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a PE ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 4.14. SM Energy has a one year low of $34.13 and a one year high of $53.26. 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 (NYSE:SM – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.17%.

About SM Energy

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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