Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Purchases New Stake in SM Energy Company $SM

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. bought a new position in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 31,237 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $974,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in SM Energy by 160.5% during the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,347 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in SM Energy by 10,461.5% during the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,373 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,360 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC grew its holdings in SM Energy by 4,561.1% during the first quarter. Torren Management LLC now owns 839 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 821 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in SM Energy by 62.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the period. Finally, Center for Financial Planning Inc. bought a new stake in SM Energy in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Trading Up 7.6%

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $29.91 on Tuesday. SM Energy Company has a fifty-two week low of $17.45 and a fifty-two week high of $35.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 0.73. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.09.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.42. SM Energy had a net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.76 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that SM Energy Company will post 7.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.97%.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,241,456.72. The trade was a 27.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. National Bank Financial set a $30.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $61.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SM Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

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.