Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $22.06 Million in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 569,118 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,059,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.50% of SM Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,287,815 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $251,324,000 after buying an additional 114,664 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $178,404,000 after buying an additional 4,292,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,693,372 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $107,675,000 after buying an additional 29,911 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,255,841 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $48,676,000 after buying an additional 32,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,234,890 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $47,864,000 after buying an additional 25,857 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Williams Trading set a $41.00 price objective on SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Raymond James lowered their target price on SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Truist Financial increased their target price on SM Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho lowered their target price on SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on SM Energy from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.00.

SM Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SM opened at $29.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. SM Energy has a 12-month low of $26.66 and a 12-month high of $53.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 4.14.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The energy company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.09). SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 28.63%. The business had revenue of $852.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $849.44 million. Equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SM Energy

In other news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. purchased 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.36 per share, for a total transaction of $226,520.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474,591.76. This represents a 91.31 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

SM Energy Company 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.