Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Boosts Stock Holdings in SM Energy Company $SM

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 91.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,076 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,800 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $1,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of SM Energy by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,753,000 after buying an additional 19,965 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in SM Energy by 43.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 145,922 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,370,000 after acquiring an additional 44,542 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in SM Energy by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 68,111 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,040,000 after acquiring an additional 2,969 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in SM Energy by 44.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in SM Energy during the first quarter worth about $222,000. 94.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SM Energy Stock Performance

SM Energy stock opened at $29.97 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $30.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. SM Energy Company has a one year low of $17.45 and a one year high of $35.88.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 3.45%.SM Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that SM Energy Company will post 7.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 36.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of SM Energy from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of SM Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $30.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $29.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at SM Energy

In related news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total transaction of $834,310.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 65,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,241,456.72. This trade represents a 27.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Profile

SM Energy Company (NYSE: SM) is an independent energy firm engaged in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. The company focuses on identifying and exploiting unconventional onshore basins, leveraging advanced drilling and completion techniques to optimize resource recovery. SM Energy’s operations are supported by an integrated approach to reservoir management and strategic midstream partnerships, enabling efficient transportation and marketing of hydrocarbons.

The company’s core asset areas include prolific basins such as the Permian, Eagle Ford, and the Rocky Mountain region.