Magnetar Financial LLC Takes $1.32 Million Position in SM Energy Company $SM

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 53,015 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,324,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in SM Energy by 19.9% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,212,775 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $30,283,000 after buying an additional 201,704 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 33.1% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 294,546 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $7,278,000 after acquiring an additional 73,240 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 135.2% during the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 254,766 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $6,362,000 after acquiring an additional 146,444 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,190,000. Finally, Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 81,990 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,026,000 after acquiring an additional 20,497 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research raised SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Weiss Ratings cut SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Susquehanna cut their price target on SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Mizuho set a $34.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Friday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM opened at $25.52 on Friday. SM Energy Company has a 1 year low of $17.45 and a 1 year high of $32.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 1.03.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $704.92 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 15.58%.

About SM Energy

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.