Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Trims Position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP decreased its position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 38.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,949 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 14,105 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP's holdings in SM Energy were worth $890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SM. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in SM Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in SM Energy by 51.0% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,179 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in SM Energy by 517.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,140 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 3,470 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in SM Energy by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,730 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 1,854 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,854 shares of the energy company's stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,533 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SM Energy news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. purchased 7,000 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $32.36 per share, with a total value of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,666 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $474,591.76. This trade represents a 91.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of SM Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Williams Trading set a $41.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.00.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM Energy stock traded up $1.61 on Monday, reaching $24.77. 3,237,395 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,952,679. SM Energy has a 1-year low of $19.67 and a 1-year high of $50.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $25.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 2.17.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $844.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $814.62 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 28.63% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The business's revenue was up 50.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. SM Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 11.20%.

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.