Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 45,869 Shares of SM Energy Company $SM

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 78.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 103,968 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,869 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $3,242,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SM. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 205.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,835,718 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $53,028,000 after buying an additional 1,906,255 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its holdings in SM Energy by 268.3% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,271,757 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $42,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,891 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in SM Energy by 198.9% in the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,429,518 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $60,665,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616,822 shares during the period. Sagefield Capital LP acquired a new stake in SM Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,275,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in SM Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $25,179,000. 94.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on SM Energy from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on SM Energy from $29.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on SM Energy from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Zacks Research lowered SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.93.

SM Energy Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $31.37 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.18 and a beta of 0.73. SM Energy Company has a 1 year low of $17.45 and a 1 year high of $35.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.41.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 3.45%.The company’s revenue was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.76 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 7.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.97%.

Insider Activity at SM Energy

In related news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.98, for a total value of $834,310.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 65,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,241,456.72. The trade was a 27.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Company 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.