R Squared Ltd Acquires Shares of 1,570 SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,570 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in SM Energy by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 66,790 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,887,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of SM Energy by 46.2% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 47,000 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,032,000 after purchasing an additional 14,848 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,032 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,718 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in SM Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,357,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in SM Energy by 244.1% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,805 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 9,793 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 16th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. KeyCorp cut their price target on SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.90.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM Energy stock opened at $37.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a current ratio of 3.52. SM Energy has a 52 week low of $34.90 and a 52 week high of $53.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 4.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.02 and a 200-day moving average of $42.46.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.10. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 33.89%. The firm had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SM Energy will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 11.17%.

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.