SM Energy (NYSE:SM) Holdings Trimmed by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 55,300 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 2,600 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 461.9% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 590 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 509.7% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 567 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 63.9% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 872 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in SM Energy in the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 3,434.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,025 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SM Energy Price Performance

Shares of SM Energy stock opened at $41.81 on Wednesday. SM Energy has a 1-year low of $34.13 and a 1-year high of $53.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $42.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.55 and a beta of 4.18.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The energy company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.28. SM Energy had a net margin of 33.18% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $634.56 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $616.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. SM Energy’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that SM Energy will post 7.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a boost from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 25th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 12.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $46.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.73.

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.