Empowered Funds LLC Has $7.97 Million Stock Position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Empowered Funds LLC reduced its stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 37.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 199,264 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 121,373 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.17% of SM Energy worth $7,965,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SM. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in SM Energy by 5.4% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 217,879 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $8,709,000 after buying an additional 11,153 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy in the third quarter worth $458,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in SM Energy by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,321 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in SM Energy by 554.7% during the 3rd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 3,863 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 3,273 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 30.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,090,000 after acquiring an additional 23,831 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $43.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 3.52. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.85. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $34.13 and a 12 month high of $53.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 4.18.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 33.89%. The business had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that SM Energy will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lowered their price target on SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on SM Energy from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.73.

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.