Oxford Asset Management LLP Buys Shares of 13,265 SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Oxford Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 13,265 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $514,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $61,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 51.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,179 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 517.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,140 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 3,470 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,730 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 1,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,854 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 1,533 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of SM Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Williams Trading set a $41.00 price target on SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on SM Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.00.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In related news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. purchased 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.36 per share, with a total value of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,666 shares in the company, valued at $474,591.76. This trade represents a 91.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.29. 1,672,378 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,890,580. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $19.67 and a twelve month high of $51.94. The company has a quick ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 3.75. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $27.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.38.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The energy company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.09). SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 28.63%. The firm had revenue of $852.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $849.44 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. SM Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.98%.

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.