SM Energy Company $SM Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

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 trimmed its holdings in SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 3.7% during the first 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.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 200.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the energy company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 172.8% in the 1st quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the energy company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in SM Energy by 80.7% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,520 shares of the energy company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in SM Energy by 73.1% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,899 shares of the energy company's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in SM Energy by 34.0% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,760 shares of the energy company's stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

SM Energy Trading Up 6.9%

SM Energy stock traded up $1.7950 during trading on Friday, hitting $27.7150. The company had a trading volume of 2,246,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,050,518. SM Energy Company has a 1-year low of $19.67 and a 1-year 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $26.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.23. The stock has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 2.29.

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

SM Energy Announces Dividend

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

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.