Empowered Funds LLC Raises Stake in SM Energy Company $SM

Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 43.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 181,172 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,179 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $5,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in SM Energy by 79.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,995,353 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $311,678,000 after buying an additional 4,426,751 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in SM Energy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,257,360 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $118,267,000 after buying an additional 107,295 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 205.1% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,835,718 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $53,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,255 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of SM Energy by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,721,147 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $50,897,000 after acquiring an additional 56,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions 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 value of $834,310.94. Following the transaction, the director owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. The trade was a 27.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on SM. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of SM Energy from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a 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. Stephens lowered their price target on SM Energy from $61.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings raised SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SM Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.53.

SM Energy Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:SM opened at $32.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.62 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.30. SM Energy Company has a 52-week low of $17.45 and a 52-week high of $35.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. SM Energy had a net margin of 3.45% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The business’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 company posted $1.76 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 6.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. SM Energy’s payout ratio is 36.97%.

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.