Royce & Associates LP Acquires 65,732 Shares of SM Energy Company $SM

Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 22.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 356,608 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 65,732 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.31% of SM Energy worth $8,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in SM Energy by 8.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,585,624 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $114,503,000 after acquiring an additional 375,754 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,731,350 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $92,202,000 after purchasing an additional 524,105 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,710,106 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $66,979,000 after purchasing an additional 17,930 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in SM Energy by 22.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,289,314 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $56,569,000 after purchasing an additional 415,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in SM Energy by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,212,775 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $30,283,000 after purchasing an additional 201,704 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on SM shares. Mizuho set a $34.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings cut SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. TD Cowen raised SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on SM Energy from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.20.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $24.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. SM Energy Company has a 52 week low of $17.45 and a 52 week high of $32.26. The firm has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $20.00 and its 200-day moving average is $21.74.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $705.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $764.40 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.SM Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is a positive change from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 14.16%.

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.