River Road Asset Management LLC Lowers Stake in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

River Road Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,838,975 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 439,770 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $71,205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy in the third quarter worth about $28,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 561.7% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 880 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 59.7% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 990 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on SM shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on SM Energy from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on SM Energy from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 8th. Seaport Res Ptn raised SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on SM Energy from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on SM Energy from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.29.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SM traded down $1.00 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.29. 1,365,943 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,588,795. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 4.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $45.50 and its 200-day moving average is $40.72. SM Energy has a one year low of $25.03 and a one year high of $53.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The energy company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $608.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $611.35 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 34.45%. The business’s revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that SM Energy will post 6.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.48%.

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.