Vest Financial LLC Has $1.58 Million Position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Vest Financial LLC lowered its holdings in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 20.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,621 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 13,448 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $1,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $164,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in SM Energy by 2.3% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 402,867 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $12,066,000 after buying an additional 9,003 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in SM Energy by 200.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 90.5% during the first quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 21,799 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $653,000 after buying an additional 10,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 2,488.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 140,436 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,206,000 after acquiring an additional 135,010 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SM. Williams Trading set a $41.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. Susquehanna decreased their target price on SM Energy from $39.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.42.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM Energy stock opened at $24.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.62. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $19.67 and a 12 month high of $50.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 3.72 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.16. SM Energy had a net margin of 28.63% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The business had revenue of $844.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $814.62 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 50.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.20%.

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.