Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Trims Holdings in SM Energy Company $SM

Key Points

• Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd sharply cut its SM Energy position, selling 236,669 shares and reducing its stake by 92.1% in the first quarter.
• Several analysts updated their views on SM Energy, with ratings ranging from buy to hold; the consensus price target is $37, according to MarketBeat.
• SM Energy reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings of $1.55 per share on $1.48 billion in revenue, and it also recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lessened its stake in shares of SM Energy Company (NYSE:SM - Free Report) by 92.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,387 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 236,669 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in SM Energy were worth $636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SM. Summit Global Investments raised its stake in shares of SM Energy by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 46,417 shares of the energy company's stock worth $868,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its position in SM Energy by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,748 shares of the energy company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in SM Energy by 62.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Corp increased its stake in shares of SM Energy by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 1,860 shares of the energy company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in SM Energy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 22,211 shares of the energy company's stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 687 shares during the period. 94.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SM shares. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of SM Energy from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Raymond James Financial raised SM Energy from an "underperform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $55.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of SM Energy from $29.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut SM Energy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SM Energy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $834,310.94. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 65,964 shares in the company, valued at $2,241,456.72. This represents a 27.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company's stock.

SM Energy Stock Up 7.6%

SM stock opened at $29.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.39. SM Energy Company has a one year low of $17.45 and a one year high of $35.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a PE ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.04 and a 200-day moving average of $26.09.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The energy company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. SM Energy had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 3.45%.SM Energy's quarterly revenue was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.76 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that SM Energy Company will post 7.1 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. SM Energy's payout ratio is 36.97%.

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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