Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Increases Position in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)

Key Points

• Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in SM Energy Company by 1,363.9%, acquiring an additional 264,915 shares during the first quarter, bringing their total ownership to approximately 0.25% of the company.
• SM Energy recently reported earnings of $1.50 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.23, with a net margin of 25.94% and revenue up 25.0% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share on August 4th, representing an annualized dividend yield of 3.1%.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 1,363.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 284,339 shares of the energy company's stock after buying an additional 264,915 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.25% of SM Energy worth $8,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in SM Energy by 200.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its position in SM Energy by 172.8% during the first quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in SM Energy by 80.7% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,520 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in SM Energy by 34.0% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,760 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in SM Energy during the first quarter valued at $164,000. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial downgraded SM Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on SM Energy from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen upgraded SM Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on SM Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.50.

SM Energy Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE SM traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $26.75. 1,289,587 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,288,751. SM Energy Company has a 52 week low of $19.67 and a 52 week high of $47.69. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $26.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 2.29.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $792.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $792.58 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 25.94%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 25.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. SM Energy's payout ratio is 11.30%.

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.