GSA Capital Partners LLP Acquires 24,973 Shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)

GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 201.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,357 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 24,973 shares during the quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP's holdings in SM Energy were worth $1,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SM. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new position in SM Energy in the 1st quarter worth $25,363,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 767,779 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in SM Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $22,059,000. Palisade Capital Management LP raised its holdings 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 valued at $36,746,000 after acquiring an additional 383,616 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in SM Energy by 272.7% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 433,834 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $12,993,000 after acquiring an additional 317,421 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on SM Energy from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 16th. TD Cowen raised SM Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Mizuho raised their price target on SM Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut SM Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.50.

SM Energy Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of NYSE:SM traded down $0.96 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $26.63. 3,399,044 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,946,672. SM Energy Company has a 1 year low of $19.67 and a 1 year high of $47.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 2.29. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.27. The business 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 18.43% and a net margin of 25.94%. The company'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 business earned $1.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 4th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. SM Energy's payout ratio 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.