Inspire Advisors LLC Acquires 4,621 Shares of SM Energy Company $SM

Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 26.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,329 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 4,621 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,269,443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $457,320,000 after acquiring an additional 69,933 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 6.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,909,004 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $117,075,000 after purchasing an additional 226,911 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in 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 worth $92,202,000 after purchasing an additional 524,105 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $66,979,000 after buying an additional 17,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 663.7% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,884,536 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $56,442,000 after buying an additional 1,637,779 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $19.05 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.86. SM Energy Company has a fifty-two week low of $17.58 and a fifty-two week high of $46.42. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

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

SM Energy Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SM has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho set a $38.00 target price on SM Energy in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on SM Energy from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. Roth Capital set a $28.00 price objective on SM Energy in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SM Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.64.

SM Energy Profile

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.