Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Invests $458,000 in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,461 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $458,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in SM Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $5,614,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 79.2% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 65,421 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,615,000 after acquiring an additional 28,920 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 593,241 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $25,646,000 after acquiring an additional 27,405 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 764,118 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $38,093,000 after acquiring an additional 124,450 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in SM Energy by 74.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 98,591 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,915,000 after buying an additional 42,122 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of SM stock opened at $43.33 on Friday. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $34.13 and a twelve month high of $53.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.83. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company 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 net margin of 33.89% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The company had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.73 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.