American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 375,754 Shares of SM Energy Company $SM

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,585,624 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 375,754 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 4.00% of SM Energy worth $114,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,731,350 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $92,202,000 after purchasing an additional 524,105 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in SM Energy by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,710,106 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $66,979,000 after buying an additional 17,930 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in SM Energy by 22.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,289,314 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $56,569,000 after acquiring an additional 415,454 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its stake in SM Energy by 19.9% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,212,775 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $30,283,000 after acquiring an additional 201,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 136.8% during the third quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 1,185,762 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,608,000 after acquiring an additional 685,118 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Trading Up 4.4%

SM opened at $24.14 on Tuesday. SM Energy Company has a 1-year low of $17.45 and a 1-year high of $33.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $19.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.76.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $705.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $764.40 million. SM Energy had a net margin of 20.55% and a return on equity of 13.47%. SM Energy’s revenue was down 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 14.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SM shares. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of SM Energy from $36.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of SM Energy from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho set a $34.00 price objective on shares of SM Energy in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of SM Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Siebert Williams Shank cut shares of SM Energy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, SM Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.20.

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.