Swiss National Bank Raises Stake in SM Energy Company $SM

Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM) by 87.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 424,233 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 197,533 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $13,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SM. Summit Global Investments boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 46,417 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $868,000 after buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its position in SM Energy by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,748 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in SM Energy by 62.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp increased its holdings in SM Energy by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,860 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of SM Energy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 22,211 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the period. 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 research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised SM Energy from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Siebert Williams Shank raised SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $41.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SM Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

SM Energy Stock Down 1.0%

SM stock opened at $33.19 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a PE ratio of 13.94 and a beta of 0.73. SM Energy Company has a 12 month low of $17.45 and a 12 month 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.

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

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.97%.

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.