SM Energy Company $SM Shares Acquired by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 132.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 475,818 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 271,292 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.20% of SM Energy worth $14,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in SM Energy by 205.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,835,718 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $53,028,000 after buying an additional 1,906,255 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its stake in SM Energy by 268.3% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,271,757 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $42,482,000 after buying an additional 1,654,891 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 198.9% in the third quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,429,518 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $60,665,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616,822 shares in the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the fourth quarter worth $20,275,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of SM Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,179,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SM has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of SM Energy in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on SM Energy from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Siebert Williams Shank upgraded SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.53.

SM Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:SM opened at $33.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.80. 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 stock has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10 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.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 3.45%.SM Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.76 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that SM Energy Company will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. SM Energy’s payout ratio is currently 36.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SM Energy

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the business’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

About SM Energy

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.