SM Energy Company $SM Stock Position Lifted by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group more than doubled its stake in SM Energy in the first quarter, buying 555,128 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 1.1 million shares valued at about $34.3 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive: SM Energy has 10 Buy ratings and 6 Hold ratings, with an average analyst price target of $36.93.
• The company reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, posting EPS of $1.55 versus the $1.13 consensus and revenue of $1.48 billion, while also paying a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 101.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,101,082 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 555,128 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.46% of SM Energy worth $34,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in SM Energy by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 91,916 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $2,753,000 after buying an additional 19,965 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of SM Energy by 43.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 145,922 shares of the energy company's stock worth $4,370,000 after buying an additional 44,542 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 68,111 shares of the energy company's stock worth $2,040,000 after acquiring an additional 2,969 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 44.9% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,248 shares of the energy company's stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in shares of SM Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $222,000. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of SM Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Raymond James Financial upgraded SM Energy from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Roth Capital upgraded SM Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on SM Energy from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Siebert Williams Shank upgraded SM Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.93.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM opened at $31.37 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average is $30.10 and its 200-day moving average is $26.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.18 and a beta of 0.73. 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 Company has a 12-month low of $17.45 and a 12-month high of $35.88.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.76 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that SM Energy Company will post 7.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SM Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. SM Energy's payout ratio is 36.97%.

Insider Activity

In other SM Energy news, Director Ramiro G. Peru sold 24,553 shares of the company'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 transaction, the director owned 65,964 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,241,456.72. This represents a 27.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.45% of the company's stock.

SM Energy Company Profile

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.

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