Invesco Ltd. Acquires 1,178,397 Shares of SM Energy Company $SM

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. significantly increased its holdings in SM Energy Company by 169.4%, acquiring an additional 1,178,397 shares during the 1st quarter, bringing their total ownership to approximately $56 million.
• SM Energy reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.50, surpassing analyst expectations and indicating a 25% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20, which translates to an annualized yield of 3.1%, reflecting a payout ratio of 11.30%.

Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 169.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,873,860 shares of the energy company's stock after buying an additional 1,178,397 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.64% of SM Energy worth $56,122,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,269,443 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $457,320,000 after buying an additional 69,933 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 51.4% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,207,245 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $96,057,000 after buying an additional 1,088,948 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,683,131 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $103,998,000 after buying an additional 767,779 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,449,483 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $56,182,000 after buying an additional 140,228 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its position in shares of SM Energy by 15.8% during the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,259,627 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $37,726,000 after buying an additional 172,161 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on SM. TD Cowen upgraded SM Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of SM Energy from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of SM Energy from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of SM Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $42.50.

SM Energy Trading Up 5.9%

Shares of SM Energy stock traded up $1.54 on Friday, hitting $27.46. 669,699 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,262,899. The company has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 2.29. SM Energy Company has a 52 week low of $19.67 and a 52 week high of $47.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $26.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.30.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.50 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 the consensus estimate of $792.58 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 25.94% and a return on equity of 18.06%. SM Energy's revenue for the quarter was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 4th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. SM Energy's payout ratio is 11.30%.

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.