American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 296,601 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,682,093 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 296,601 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 3.22% of SM Energy worth $142,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SM. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of SM Energy by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,287,815 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $251,324,000 after acquiring an additional 114,664 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,693,372 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $107,675,000 after buying an additional 29,911 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,255,841 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $48,676,000 after buying an additional 32,803 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,234,890 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $47,864,000 after buying an additional 25,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SM Energy by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,167,033 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $45,234,000 after buying an additional 68,774 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SM Energy news, Director Barton R. Brookman, Jr. purchased 7,000 shares of SM Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $32.36 per share, for a total transaction of $226,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,591.76. This trade represents a 91.31 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SM shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of SM Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of SM Energy from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of SM Energy from $54.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $41.00 price target on shares of SM Energy in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SM Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00.

SM Energy Price Performance

SM stock opened at $30.68 on Monday. SM Energy has a one year low of $26.66 and a one year high of $53.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 3.52 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 4.14.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The energy company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.00 by ($0.09). SM Energy had a return on equity of 19.82% and a net margin of 28.63%. The company had revenue of $852.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $849.44 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that SM Energy 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, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.98%.

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.