SM Energy Company $SM Position Raised by Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 126,280 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 24,638 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS owned about 0.05% of SM Energy worth $4,266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in SM Energy during the second quarter valued at about $1,025,229,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $378,288,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 79.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $311,678,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,751 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $199,602,000. Finally, Webs Creek Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of SM Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,257,807. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on SM Energy from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded SM Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on SM Energy from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.82.

SM Energy Stock Down 0.3%

SM stock opened at $29.83 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.57. SM Energy Company has a 52-week low of $17.45 and a 52-week high of $41.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 0.80.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The energy company reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. SM Energy had a net margin of 13.69% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 167.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 8.00 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.36%.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In other SM Energy news, EVP James Barker Lebeck sold 17,500 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.02, for a total value of $647,850.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $544,379.10. The trade was a 54.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Ashwin Venkatraman sold 3,650 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.28, for a total value of $139,722.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 12,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $479,457. This represents a 22.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SM Energy Company Profile

SM Energy Company is an independent oil and gas company focused on acquiring, exploring, developing and producing crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its operations are concentrated in Texas, including the Midland Basin in the Permian Basin and the South Texas region.

The company’s business includes developing oil and gas properties and managing the infrastructure and operations needed to bring production to market. Its portfolio has evolved over time as SM Energy has made acquisitions and divested assets to focus on its core areas.

Founded in 1908 as St.