GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 505 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,062 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 505 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in SM Energy by 244.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,805 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 9,793 shares in the last quarter. Stonehearth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $288,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,357,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,032 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its position in SM Energy by 46.2% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 47,000 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,032,000 after buying an additional 14,848 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.40.

SM Energy Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $44.89 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 4.18. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.66 and a 200-day moving average of $46.22. SM Energy has a one year low of $34.13 and a one year high of $53.26.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $634.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $616.63 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This is a positive change from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.54%.

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.