SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Bought by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 2,488.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 140,436 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 135,010 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned about 0.12% of SM Energy worth $4,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in SM Energy by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,632,255 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $179,546,000 after buying an additional 835,929 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,683,131 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $103,998,000 after purchasing an additional 767,779 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $22,059,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 214.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 519,302 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $20,128,000 after purchasing an additional 354,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,682,093 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $142,718,000 after purchasing an additional 296,601 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SM. Mizuho cut their target price on SM Energy from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Stephens cut their target price on SM Energy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $41.00 target price on SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.42.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of SM opened at $26.00 on Wednesday. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $19.67 and a twelve month high of $50.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $23.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 2.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.16. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 28.63%. The company had revenue of $844.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $814.62 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.20%.

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.