Vest Financial LLC Buys 4,950 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 27.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 22,839 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,950 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 1.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,361,149 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $102,072,000 after acquiring an additional 28,005 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,593,103 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $61,685,000 after purchasing an additional 64,781 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 20.0% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,552,004 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $77,367,000 after acquiring an additional 258,733 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 0.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,335,624 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $57,739,000 after acquiring an additional 4,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 929.6% in the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,159,488 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $50,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on SM. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.78.

SM Energy Stock Performance

NYSE SM opened at $38.78 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $44.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.70. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $34.13 and a fifty-two week high of $53.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.08 and a beta of 4.18.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $634.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $616.63 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 33.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that SM Energy will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.29%.

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.