Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $96.06 Million Stock Holdings in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM)

Key Points

• Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in SM Energy Company by 51.4%, owning approximately 3.2 million shares worth $96.06 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• SM Energy reported a quarterly EPS of $1.50, surpassing analyst estimates of $1.23, and reported a revenue of $792.94 million, which was a 25% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20, translating to an annualized dividend of $0.80 and a dividend yield of 3.0%.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 51.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,207,245 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,088,948 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 2.80% of SM Energy worth $96,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP grew 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 purchasing an additional 767,779 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,449,483 shares of the energy company's stock worth $56,182,000 after acquiring an additional 140,228 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 15.8% in the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,259,627 shares of the energy company's stock worth $37,726,000 after acquiring an additional 172,161 shares during the last quarter. Palisade Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 45.5% in the first quarter. Palisade Capital Management LP now owns 1,226,895 shares of the energy company's stock worth $36,746,000 after acquiring an additional 383,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter worth $25,363,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SM shares. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of SM Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Susquehanna raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Stephens reduced their target price on SM Energy from $62.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.50.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SM traded down $0.58 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.83. 2,182,706 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,118,603. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 2.29. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $26.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.37. SM Energy Company has a 12 month low of $19.67 and a 12 month high of $47.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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

SM Energy Announces Dividend

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