The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Makes New $3.25 Million Investment in SM Energy Company $SM

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 124,575 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,251,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.05% of SM Energy as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SM. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in SM Energy by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,108 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in SM Energy by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC now owns 13,777 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments increased its position in SM Energy by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 46,417 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $868,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its position in SM Energy by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,748 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 62.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In related news, EVP James Barker Lebeck sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.02, for a total value of $647,850.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,705 shares in the company, valued at $544,379.10. This trade represents a 54.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on SM. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of SM Energy from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of SM Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Roth Capital raised SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Mizuho upgraded SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Monday, August 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.93.

SM Energy Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $38.00 on Wednesday. SM Energy Company has a fifty-two week low of $17.45 and a fifty-two week high of $38.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.66.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.23. SM Energy had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 17.93%. The company had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 215.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that SM Energy Company will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

SM Energy Company 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.