Palisade Capital Management LP Buys 383,616 Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)

Palisade Capital Management LP raised its holdings in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 45.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,226,895 shares of the energy company's stock after buying an additional 383,616 shares during the period. SM Energy comprises approximately 1.1% of Palisade Capital Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Palisade Capital Management LP owned approximately 1.07% of SM Energy worth $36,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 653,705 shares of the energy company's stock worth $19,578,000 after buying an additional 17,883 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its holdings in SM Energy by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 46,039 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 4,880 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in SM Energy by 31.7% in the 1st quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 162,849 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $4,877,000 after acquiring an additional 39,165 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in SM Energy by 31.8% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 28,704 shares of the energy company's stock worth $860,000 after acquiring an additional 6,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 2.5% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 21,258 shares of the energy company's stock worth $637,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SM. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on SM Energy from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on SM Energy from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.08.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM traded down $0.34 on Friday, hitting $25.85. 643,724 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,962,900. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 2.16. 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 Company has a 12 month low of $19.67 and a 12 month high of $48.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $24.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.53.

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

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. SM Energy's payout ratio is presently 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.