Aventail Capital Group LP Cuts Position in SM Energy Company $SM

Aventail Capital Group LP decreased its stake in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 75.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,650 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 125,854 shares during the period. Aventail Capital Group LP’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $1,040,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in SM Energy during the second quarter worth about $25,179,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 182.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,082,414 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,746,000 after acquiring an additional 699,115 shares during the period. Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 136.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 1,185,762 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,608,000 after acquiring an additional 685,118 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 53.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,756,496 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $43,860,000 after acquiring an additional 612,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,731,350 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $92,202,000 after acquiring an additional 524,105 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Siebert Williams Shank downgraded SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on SM Energy from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Stephens upped their target price on SM Energy from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. TD Cowen upgraded SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Mizuho set a $34.00 price target on SM Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.00.

SM Energy Trading Up 5.1%

Shares of SM opened at $26.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. SM Energy Company has a 1-year low of $17.45 and a 1-year high of $32.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.72.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $704.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $764.40 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.SM Energy’s revenue was down 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.58%.

SM Energy 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.