River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 439,770 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

River Road Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,838,975 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 439,770 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned 1.58% of SM Energy worth $71,205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 561.7% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 880 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 59.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 990 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SM. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on SM Energy from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Raymond James dropped their price target on SM Energy from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on SM Energy from $51.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.29.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of SM traded down $1.00 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.29. 1,365,943 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,588,795. The company has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 4.20. SM Energy has a 52-week low of $25.03 and a 52-week high of $53.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $45.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The energy company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $608.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $611.35 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 34.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that SM Energy will post 6.21 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is presently 10.48%.

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.