Ethic Inc. Decreases Position in SM Energy Company $SM

Ethic Inc. trimmed its position in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 72.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,550 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 27,437 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SM. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 11.9% in the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 46,039 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 4,880 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 2.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,705 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $19,578,000 after acquiring an additional 17,883 shares in the last quarter. Palisade Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 45.5% in the first quarter. Palisade Capital Management LP now owns 1,226,895 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $36,746,000 after acquiring an additional 383,616 shares in the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 2.1% in the first quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 135,058 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,045,000 after acquiring an additional 2,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 12.7% in the first quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 8,355 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 941 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Zacks Research downgraded SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on SM Energy to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on SM Energy from $30.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Mizuho set a $38.00 target price on SM Energy in a research note on Friday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.50.

SM Energy Stock Performance

SM Energy stock opened at $20.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.24. SM Energy Company has a 52 week low of $19.67 and a 52 week high of $46.42.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $792.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $792.58 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 25.94%.The firm’s revenue was up 25.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.30%.

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.