VestGen Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in SM Energy Company $SM

VestGen Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 47,704 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,611,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,025,229,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $378,288,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 79.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $311,678,000 after purchasing an additional 4,426,751 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy in the second quarter valued at $199,602,000. Finally, Webs Creek Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy in the second quarter valued at $53,257,807. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of SM Energy from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $36.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Mizuho set a $39.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.59.

SM Energy Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE SM opened at $40.29 on Friday. SM Energy Company has a 1-year low of $17.45 and a 1-year high of $41.56. The company has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $37.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. SM Energy had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 18.20%. SM Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 215.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.50 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 17.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SM Energy news, EVP James Barker Lebeck sold 17,500 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.02, for a total transaction of $647,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $544,379.10. This trade represents a 54.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ashwin Venkatraman sold 3,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.28, for a total transaction of $139,722.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,525 shares in the company, valued at $479,457. This represents a 22.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Profile

SM Energy Company is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its activities include acquiring prospective acreage, drilling and completing wells, and managing producing properties in U.S. onshore oil and gas basins.

The company’s operations are primarily concentrated in Texas, including the Midland Basin in West Texas and the Eagle Ford shale region in South Texas. SM Energy focuses on development of unconventional resources and uses horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies to produce hydrocarbons from shale and other tight-rock formations.

Founded in 1908 as St.