State Street Corp Grows Stock Position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

State Street Corp lifted its position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,287,815 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 114,664 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 5.50% of SM Energy worth $251,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in SM Energy by 2,515.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463,443 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $178,404,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,793 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in SM Energy by 929.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,046,872 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in SM Energy by 2,217.1% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 818,032 shares of the energy company's stock worth $32,697,000 after buying an additional 782,728 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in SM Energy by 6.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,341,875 shares of the energy company's stock worth $274,161,000 after buying an additional 384,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 267.4% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 391,107 shares of the energy company's stock worth $15,633,000 after buying an additional 284,665 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on SM shares. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. upgraded shares of SM Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $53.00 price target (up previously from $51.00) on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

SM Energy Stock Performance

SM traded down $0.59 on Thursday, hitting $40.62. 791,729 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,674,848. SM Energy has a 12-month low of $34.17 and a 12-month high of $53.26. The company has a quick ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.27 and a 200-day moving average of $44.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 4.14.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 33.89%. The company had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.73 earnings per share. SM Energy's quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. This is a boost from SM Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. SM Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 11.17%.

About SM Energy

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.