34,913 Shares in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Purchased by GF Fund Management CO. LTD.

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 34,913 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,353,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,730 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,854 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 47.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 250,218 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $10,002,000 after purchasing an additional 80,343 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,822 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $24,644,000 after purchasing an additional 24,701 shares in the last quarter. Intrust Bank NA purchased a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $396,000. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 132,267 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,127,000 after purchasing an additional 31,582 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho cut their price target on SM Energy from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Raymond James cut their price target on SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.92.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SM opened at $23.14 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $24.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.00. The company has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 2.17. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $19.67 and a 12 month high of $50.77.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $844.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $814.62 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 28.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that SM Energy will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.20%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. acquired 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.36 per share, for a total transaction of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474,591.76. This trade represents a 91.31% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.