Truist Financial Corp Cuts Position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Truist Financial Corp lessened its holdings in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 14.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,110 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 8,621 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $2,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors 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. Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in SM Energy by 1,733.5% during the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 102,307 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,100,000 after purchasing an additional 96,727 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $710,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 4.8% during 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 buying an additional 27,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 19.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 764,118 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $38,093,000 after buying an additional 124,450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial cut 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 note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 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 on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.40.

SM Energy Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE SM opened at $44.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 4.18. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $34.13 and a 12 month high of $53.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.22.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.28. SM Energy had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 33.18%. The business had revenue of $634.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $616.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that SM Energy will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.54%.

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.