SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Stock Holdings Boosted by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 40.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,683,131 shares of the energy company's stock after acquiring an additional 767,779 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 2.34% of SM Energy worth $103,998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth $61,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in SM Energy by 51.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,179 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in SM Energy by 517.9% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,140 shares of the energy company's stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,533 shares during the period. Finally, Heritage Family Offices LLP boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 6,237 shares of the energy company's stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 726 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other SM Energy news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. purchased 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.36 per share, with a total value of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 14,666 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $474,591.76. This trade represents a 91.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on SM. KeyCorp dropped their target price on SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on SM Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Williams Trading set a $41.00 price objective on SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SM Energy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.00.

SM Energy Stock Up 1.3 %

SM traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $23.48. 1,368,963 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,883,273. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 3.52. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $19.67 and a fifty-two week high of $51.94. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $28.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.88. The company has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 3.75.

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

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. SM Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.