Kennedy Capital Management LLC Sells 187,942 Shares of SM Energy Company $SM

Kennedy Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 32.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 386,165 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 187,942 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned 0.34% of SM Energy worth $7,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Wyoming lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,748 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 62.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,860 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 22,211 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 74,613 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,863,000 after buying an additional 705 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Trading Down 8.7%

Shares of SM stock opened at $28.44 on Tuesday. SM Energy Company has a 1 year low of $17.45 and a 1 year high of $35.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.98. The company has a market cap of $6.82 billion, a PE ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 0.72.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.42. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 3.45%.The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.76 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that SM Energy Company will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 36.97%.

Insider Transactions at SM Energy

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total transaction of $834,310.94. Following the sale, the director directly owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. This represents a 27.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SM shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on SM Energy from $29.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Siebert Williams Shank upgraded SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on SM Energy from $36.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.07.

About SM Energy

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.