Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Has $594,000 Stake in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lessened its stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 47.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,849 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 13,353 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC's holdings in SM Energy were worth $594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the third quarter valued at $259,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 79.2% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 65,421 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $2,615,000 after purchasing an additional 28,920 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 144.6% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 22,357 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $894,000 after purchasing an additional 13,215 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 82.2% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 411,103 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $17,772,000 after purchasing an additional 185,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 7.3% in the third quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 178,750 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $7,145,000 after purchasing an additional 12,102 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SM shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $53.00 price target (up from $51.00) on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen raised shares of SM Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Tudor Pickering raised shares of SM Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.64.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SM traded down $1.72 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.15. The company had a trading volume of 1,305,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,666,375. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 3.52. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $42.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.82. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $34.76 and a 12 month high of $53.26. The firm has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 4.14.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.73 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that SM Energy will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from SM Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. SM Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.17%.

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.