EMC Capital Management Buys Shares of 4,114 SM Energy Company $SM

EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,114 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of SM Energy by 663.7% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,884,536 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $56,442,000 after purchasing an additional 1,637,779 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,005,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 169.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,873,860 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $56,122,000 after buying an additional 1,178,397 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 51.4% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,207,245 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $96,057,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in SM Energy in the 1st quarter worth $18,910,000. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

SM Energy Stock Performance

NYSE SM opened at $19.05 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.67 and a 200-day moving average of $24.86. SM Energy Company has a 52-week low of $17.58 and a 52-week high of $46.42.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The energy company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.08. SM Energy had a net margin of 25.94% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The firm had revenue of $811.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $838.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 12.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of SM Energy to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on SM Energy from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $28.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a report on Monday, November 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.64.

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.