Virtu Financial LLC Invests $743,000 in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC has acquired 24,812 shares of SM Energy Company, which amounts to approximately $743,000.
• Invesco Ltd. significantly increased its stake in SM Energy by 169.4%, now owning 1,873,860 shares valued at over $56 million.
• SM Energy recently reported an EPS of $1.50 for the quarter, exceeding estimates, with a 25% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year.

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 24,812 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $743,000.

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

SM Energy Stock Performance

SM Energy stock traded down $0.29 on Thursday, hitting $26.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,289,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,067,668. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 2.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.75. SM Energy Company has a one year low of $19.67 and a one year high of $47.69.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $792.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $792.58 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 25.94% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 25.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial cut shares of SM Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of SM Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.50.

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.