Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 184,993 SM Energy Company $SM

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 184,993 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,619,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Corp bought a new position in SM Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in SM Energy in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in SM Energy by 316.7% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,200 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in SM Energy by 220.6% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,430 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 201.0% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,776 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Mizuho set a $34.00 price target on SM Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on SM Energy from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on SM Energy from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Siebert Williams Shank lowered SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.00.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM Energy stock opened at $26.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.66. SM Energy Company has a fifty-two week low of $17.45 and a fifty-two week high of $32.26. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 1.03.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $704.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $764.40 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 20.55%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is currently 15.58%.

SM Energy Company Profile

SM Energy Company (NYSE: SM) is an independent energy firm engaged in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company focuses on identifying and exploiting unconventional onshore basins, leveraging advanced drilling and completion techniques to optimize resource recovery. SM Energy’s operations are supported by an integrated approach to reservoir management and strategic midstream partnerships, enabling efficient transportation and marketing of hydrocarbons.

The company’s core asset areas include prolific basins such as the Permian, Eagle Ford, and the Rocky Mountain region.