FIL Ltd Acquires Shares of 11,362 SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

FIL Ltd purchased a new stake in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 11,362 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in SM Energy by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,632,255 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $179,546,000 after acquiring an additional 835,929 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,059,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in SM Energy by 214.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 519,302 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $20,128,000 after acquiring an additional 354,297 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,682,093 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $142,718,000 after purchasing an additional 296,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 221.4% in the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 388,761 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $15,068,000 after acquiring an additional 267,789 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In related news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. acquired 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.36 per share, for a total transaction of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474,591.76. The trade was a 91.31 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SM. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Seven research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.00.

SM Energy Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of SM stock opened at $21.96 on Tuesday. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $19.67 and a twelve month high of $51.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a current ratio of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.94. The company has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 3.75.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The energy company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.09). SM Energy had a net margin of 28.63% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The business had revenue of $852.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $849.44 million. As a group, research analysts predict that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.98%.

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.