Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Makes New Investment in SM Energy Company $SM

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 18,706 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $583,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in SM Energy by 95.2% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 36,745 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,146,000 after acquiring an additional 17,917 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in SM Energy by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 8,313 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,724 shares in the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $242,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,127,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,421,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at SM Energy

In other news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total value of $834,310.94. Following the sale, the director owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. This trade represents a 27.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SM Energy Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of SM stock opened at $29.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.16. SM Energy Company has a 1-year low of $17.45 and a 1-year high of $35.88.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.42. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 3.45%.The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that SM Energy Company will post 7.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $61.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of SM Energy from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.93.

SM Energy Company Profile

SM Energy Company (NYSE: SM) is an independent energy firm engaged in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company focuses on identifying and exploiting unconventional onshore basins, leveraging advanced drilling and completion techniques to optimize resource recovery. SM Energy’s operations are supported by an integrated approach to reservoir management and strategic midstream partnerships, enabling efficient transportation and marketing of hydrocarbons.

The company’s core asset areas include prolific basins such as the Permian, Eagle Ford, and the Rocky Mountain region.