Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Buys 524,105 Shares of SM Energy Company $SM

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,731,350 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 524,105 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $92,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in SM Energy by 663.7% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,884,536 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $56,442,000 after purchasing an additional 1,637,779 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy in the 1st quarter worth $44,005,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 169.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,873,860 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $56,122,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,397 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in SM Energy during the second quarter valued at $25,179,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in SM Energy by 182.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,082,414 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,746,000 after acquiring an additional 699,115 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $19.58 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $20.27 and a 200 day moving average of $24.38. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.16. SM Energy Company has a 12-month low of $17.58 and a 12-month high of $44.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The energy company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $811.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $838.24 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 22.03% and a return on equity of 16.67%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on SM Energy from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Mizuho set a $38.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of SM Energy to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.91.

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.