SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Shares Sold by Channing Capital Management LLC

Channing Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 932,435 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 240,114 shares during the quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $36,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 72.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,054,503 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $81,461,000 after acquiring an additional 865,480 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy in the third quarter worth about $19,314,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 44.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,163,332 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $46,126,000 after acquiring an additional 358,253 shares in the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $8,669,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 39.8% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 751,453 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,096,000 after acquiring an additional 213,866 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Monday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on SM Energy from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Mizuho upped their price target on SM Energy from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price target on SM Energy from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.57.

SM Energy Stock Up 5.0 %

NYSE SM traded up $2.39 on Friday, reaching $50.13. The stock had a trading volume of 3,340,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,473,311. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $48.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $25.03 and a 1 year high of $53.26. The company has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 4.21.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The energy company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.17. SM Energy had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 31.80%. The firm had revenue of $608.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.29%.

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.