SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Holdings Trimmed by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 60.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 127,678 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 193,127 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.11% of SM Energy worth $4,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SM. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in SM Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $157,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 95,399 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $3,694,000 after purchasing an additional 5,986 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,627 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $24,379,000 after purchasing an additional 94,419 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,683 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,966 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on SM Energy from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded SM Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on SM Energy from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp increased their price objective on SM Energy from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on SM Energy from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.86.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM Energy stock traded down $1.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $49.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,164,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,548,343. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 4.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.48. SM Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.20 and a fifty-two week high of $53.26. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $48.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.90.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The energy company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.17. SM Energy had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 31.80%. The business had revenue of $608.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. The business's revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 18th. SM Energy's payout ratio is 11.29%.

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.