Cerity Partners LLC Has $963,000 Stake in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)

Cerity Partners LLC trimmed its position in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 27.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,149 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 12,302 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in SM Energy were worth $963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 8.2% in the first quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 186,715 shares of the energy company's stock worth $5,592,000 after buying an additional 14,190 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 12.7% in the first quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 8,355 shares of the energy company's stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC increased its position in SM Energy by 2.1% during the first quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 135,058 shares of the energy company's stock worth $4,045,000 after acquiring an additional 2,791 shares during the period. Palisade Capital Management LP increased its position in SM Energy by 45.5% during the first quarter. Palisade Capital Management LP now owns 1,226,895 shares of the energy company's stock worth $36,746,000 after acquiring an additional 383,616 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in SM Energy by 2.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,705 shares of the energy company's stock worth $19,578,000 after acquiring an additional 17,883 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of SM Energy from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 16th. TD Cowen raised shares of SM Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered shares of SM Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SM Energy currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.33.

SM Energy Stock Performance

SM stock traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $27.50. 1,480,205 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,933,400. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $25.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 2.16. SM Energy Company has a one year low of $19.67 and a one year high of $47.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $844.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $814.62 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.90% and a net margin of 27.61%. SM Energy's revenue for the quarter was up 50.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 4th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. SM Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.20%.

About SM Energy

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.