Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Has $3.93 Million Holdings in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 78,767 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 724 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $3,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SM. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $50,075,000. Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 848.7% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 877,739 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $33,986,000 after buying an additional 785,222 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in SM Energy by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,509,379 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $213,326,000 after purchasing an additional 493,427 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 39.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 751,453 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,096,000 after buying an additional 213,866 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,077,231 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $41,710,000 after purchasing an additional 198,473 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on SM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on SM Energy from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on SM Energy from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a report on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on SM Energy from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.44.

SM Energy Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of SM traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $46.59. 417,098 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,713,771. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.13 and a beta of 4.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $34.13 and a fifty-two week high of $53.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.63 and a 200-day moving average of $45.51.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The energy company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.13. SM Energy had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 31.80%. The business had revenue of $559.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $568.21 million. On average, research analysts expect that SM Energy will post 7.09 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is presently 11.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SM Energy news, SVP Kenneth J. Knott sold 16,000 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction 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 $5,756,808.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by 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.