Capital Counsel LLC NY Sells 2,500 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Capital Counsel LLC NY decreased its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 17.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,905 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the period. Capital Counsel LLC NY’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,341,875 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $274,161,000 after purchasing an additional 384,675 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in SM Energy by 2,515.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463,443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $178,404,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,793 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in SM Energy by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,361,149 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $102,072,000 after purchasing an additional 28,005 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 0.7% in the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,792,573 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $71,649,000 after buying an additional 12,669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 10.2% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,709,927 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $73,920,000 after buying an additional 157,923 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens upped their target price on SM Energy from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Six 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. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.09.

SM Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SM opened at $44.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.23 and a beta of 4.18. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $34.13 and a twelve month high of $53.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $42.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.59. The company has a current ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.73 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is presently 11.17%.

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.