First Eagle Investment Management LLC Purchases 135,565 Shares of SM Energy Company $SM

First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 415,868 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 135,565 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $10,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 36.3% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,010 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. First National Advisers LLC raised its stake in SM Energy by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 12,604 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in SM Energy by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,701 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Managment LLC ID now owns 3,300 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares during the period. Finally, Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 108,074 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,699,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SM. Zacks Research upgraded SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. KeyCorp cut their target price on SM Energy from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on SM Energy from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Siebert Williams Shank downgraded SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.20.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM Energy stock opened at $24.09 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $20.00 and a 200-day moving average of $21.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.69. SM Energy Company has a 52 week low of $17.45 and a 52 week high of $32.26.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $705.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $764.40 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.16%.

SM Energy Company Profile

SM Energy Company (NYSE: SM) is an independent energy firm engaged in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company focuses on identifying and exploiting unconventional onshore basins, leveraging advanced drilling and completion techniques to optimize resource recovery. SM Energy’s operations are supported by an integrated approach to reservoir management and strategic midstream partnerships, enabling efficient transportation and marketing of hydrocarbons.

The company’s core asset areas include prolific basins such as the Permian, Eagle Ford, and the Rocky Mountain region.