Meritage Portfolio Management Buys 965 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Meritage Portfolio Management grew its position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 9.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,453 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 965 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 11.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,853 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in SM Energy by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,045 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 63.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 872 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,843 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in SM Energy by 1.4% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 32,403 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SM Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of SM Energy stock opened at $44.02 on Tuesday. SM Energy has a 1-year low of $34.13 and a 1-year high of $53.26. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 4.18.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $643.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $643.67 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 33.89% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.73 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were given a $0.20 dividend. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is currently 11.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SM. Truist Financial decreased their price target on SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on SM Energy from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.73.

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.