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

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 91.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 56,076 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 26,800 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $1,748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Torren Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 4,561.1% during the 1st quarter. Torren Management LLC now owns 839 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 821 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter worth $33,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the third quarter worth $31,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in SM Energy by 3,080.5% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,304 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in SM Energy by 160.5% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,347 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at SM Energy

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. The trade was a 27.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of SM Energy from $61.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on SM Energy from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.93.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM opened at $29.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $30.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.39. SM Energy Company has a 12-month low of $17.45 and a 12-month high of $35.88.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. SM Energy had a net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 7.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.97%.

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.