Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 0.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 611,121 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 1,679 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.53% of SM Energy worth $24,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in SM Energy by 929.6% during the second quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,159,488 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $50,125,000 after buying an additional 1,046,872 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in SM Energy by 2,217.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 818,032 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $32,697,000 after acquiring an additional 782,728 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in SM Energy by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,341,875 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $274,161,000 after acquiring an additional 384,675 shares in the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. raised its position in SM Energy by 144.7% during the second quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. now owns 457,854 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $19,793,000 after acquiring an additional 270,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 20.0% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,552,004 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $77,367,000 after purchasing an additional 258,733 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. KeyCorp cut their price target on SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, SM Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.73.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM stock opened at $43.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 3.52. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 4.18. SM Energy has a 12 month low of $34.13 and a 12 month high of $53.26.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $643.67 million. SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.62% and a net margin of 33.89%. The business’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.73 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that SM Energy will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a $0.20 dividend. This is a positive change from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.17%.

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.