Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Decreases Stock Holdings in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 89.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,312 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 783,822 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.08% of SM Energy worth $3,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,632,255 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $179,546,000 after purchasing an additional 835,929 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,682,093 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $142,718,000 after acquiring an additional 296,601 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 40.1% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,255,841 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $48,676,000 after acquiring an additional 32,803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in SM Energy by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,234,890 shares of the energy company's stock worth $47,864,000 after purchasing an additional 25,857 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $60.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Tuesday, March 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. bought 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $32.36 per share, for a total transaction of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 14,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $474,591.76. This represents a 91.31% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM Energy stock traded up $0.32 on Friday, reaching $23.15. 1,756,346 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,947,519. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.57 and a 200 day moving average of $35.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 2.17. SM Energy has a 52 week low of $19.67 and a 52 week high of $50.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 3.52.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The energy company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.16. SM Energy had a net margin of 28.63% and a return on equity of 19.82%. The business had revenue of $844.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $814.62 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 50.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. SM Energy's payout ratio is 11.20%.

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.