Martingale Asset Management L P Sells 1,300 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Martingale Asset Management L P lessened its stake in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,750 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in SM Energy by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,853 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 2.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,045 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 63.9% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 872 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in SM Energy by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,843 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in SM Energy by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 32,403 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,401,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $44.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.22 and a 200 day moving average of $44.44. The company has a market cap of $5.09 billion, a PE ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 4.14. SM Energy has a 12-month low of $34.13 and a 12-month high of $53.26. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.67 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 33.89% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SM Energy will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SM shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho cut their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.09.

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.