National Bank of Canada FI Invests $259,000 in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,483 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in SM Energy by 2,515.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463,443 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $178,404,000 after buying an additional 4,292,793 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 929.6% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,159,488 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $50,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,872 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in SM Energy by 2,217.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 818,032 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $32,697,000 after acquiring an additional 782,728 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in SM Energy by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,341,875 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $274,161,000 after purchasing an additional 384,675 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in SM Energy by 267.4% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 391,107 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $15,633,000 after purchasing an additional 284,665 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE SM opened at $39.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 4.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $43.05 and its 200 day moving average is $43.90. SM Energy has a twelve month low of $34.76 and a twelve month high of $53.26. The company has a quick ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

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

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Tudor Pickering upgraded SM Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.82.

About SM Energy

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.