Teacher Retirement System of Texas Raises Position in SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,523 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 17,333 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in SM Energy were worth $4,749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SM. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in shares of SM Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $415,000. Gallacher Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in SM Energy by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 8,206 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in SM Energy by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 232,523 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $9,013,000 after purchasing an additional 14,644 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 12,214 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $473,000 after buying an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of SM Energy by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 42,920 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,664,000 after buying an additional 1,978 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on SM shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James cut their price target on SM Energy from $59.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com lowered SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM Energy stock opened at $30.68 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a current ratio of 0.55. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $26.66 and a 1 year high of $53.26. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 4.14.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The energy company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by ($0.09). SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 28.63%. The firm had revenue of $852.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $849.44 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SM Energy will post 8.1 earnings per share for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SM Energy news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. purchased 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.36 per share, with a total value of $226,520.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,591.76. This represents a 91.31 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St.