Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 38,235 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its stake in SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 29.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 89,946 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 38,235 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.08% of SM Energy worth $3,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in SM Energy by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 544,961 shares of the energy company's stock worth $21,123,000 after purchasing an additional 5,345 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 238,205 shares of the energy company's stock worth $9,233,000 after buying an additional 55,600 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy during the 4th quarter worth $294,000. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its stake in SM Energy by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 195,761 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $7,588,000 after buying an additional 33,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in SM Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,108,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SM shares. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of SM Energy from $45.00 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Williams Trading set a $41.00 price target on SM Energy in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.00.

SM Energy Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of SM traded up $0.92 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $22.94. 1,653,828 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,876,911. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a current ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a PE ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 3.75. SM Energy has a 52 week low of $19.67 and a 52 week high of $51.94.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The energy company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.09). SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 28.63%. The firm had revenue of $852.22 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $849.44 million. On average, analysts predict that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. SM Energy's payout ratio is 11.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SM Energy

In other SM Energy news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. purchased 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $32.36 per share, with a total value of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 14,666 shares in the company, valued at $474,591.76. This represents a 91.31 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

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.