Diversified Trust Co Invests $819,000 in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Diversified Trust Co bought a new position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 16,436 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $819,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in SM Energy in the first quarter valued at $200,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 1.2% in the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 88,118 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,393,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,021,032 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $50,898,000 after purchasing an additional 143,293 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on SM shares. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SM Energy news, SVP Kenneth J. Knott sold 16,000 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.28, for a total value of $804,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 114,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,756,808.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SM Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of SM opened at $44.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.54. SM Energy has a 1-year low of $29.51 and a 1-year high of $53.26. The stock has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.95 and a beta of 4.20.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $559.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.21 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 31.80% and a return on equity of 20.10%. Equities analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 6.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 19th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is currently 11.29%.

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.