Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 245,240 Shares of SM Energy Company $SM

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its stake in SM Energy Company by 3.7%, now owning approximately 5.51% of the company valued at $188.9 million after selling 245,240 shares.
• Multiple hedge funds increased their holdings in SM Energy, with Parallel Advisors LLC boosting its stake by 200.8%, and Byrne Asset Management LLC increasing by 172.8% during the first quarter.
• SM Energy's quarterly earnings exceeded analysts' estimates, reporting $1.50 EPS against a forecast of $1.23, with revenues of $792.94 million indicating a year-over-year increase of 25%.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its position in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,307,316 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 245,240 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.51% of SM Energy worth $188,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in SM Energy by 169.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,873,860 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $56,122,000 after buying an additional 1,178,397 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in SM Energy by 51.4% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,207,245 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $96,057,000 after buying an additional 1,088,948 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new position in SM Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,363,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in SM Energy by 40.1% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,683,131 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $103,998,000 after buying an additional 767,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in SM Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $18,910,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.56% of the company's stock.

SM Energy Trading Up 6.9%

Shares of SM stock traded up $1.7950 on Friday, reaching $27.7150. 2,246,633 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,088,835. SM Energy Company has a 52 week low of $19.67 and a 52 week high of $47.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 2.29. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $26.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.08.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The energy company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.27. SM Energy had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 25.94%.The firm had revenue of $792.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $792.58 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.85 EPS. SM Energy's quarterly revenue was up 25.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that SM Energy Company will post 8.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 4th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. SM Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on SM Energy from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 16th. Raymond James Financial lowered SM Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on SM Energy from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on SM Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised SM Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $42.50.

SM Energy Profile

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.