Range Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 21,495 SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 21,495 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $833,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SM. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in SM Energy by 2,515.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463,443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $178,404,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292,793 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in SM Energy by 929.6% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,159,488 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $50,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,872 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in SM Energy by 2,217.1% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 818,032 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $32,697,000 after purchasing an additional 782,728 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in SM Energy by 6.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,341,875 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $274,161,000 after buying an additional 384,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in SM Energy by 267.4% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 391,107 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $15,633,000 after buying an additional 284,665 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM Energy stock traded up $1.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $42.65. 2,089,362 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,262,797. 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 cap of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 4.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.92. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $34.76 and a twelve month high of $53.26.

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

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 11.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna decreased their target price on SM Energy from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.64.

About SM Energy

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.