Investors Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE)

Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 9,881 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 41% compared to the average volume of 6,987 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $107.50 per share, for a total transaction of $215,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 83,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,976,035. This trade represents a 2.45% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Expand Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Expand Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,913,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,965,510,000 after acquiring an additional 646,330 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Expand Energy by 33.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,251,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,345,303,000 after purchasing an additional 5,291,948 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Expand Energy by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,183,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,400,621,000 after buying an additional 1,014,484 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Expand Energy by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,359,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $463,140,000 after buying an additional 619,001 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Expand Energy by 192.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,286,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,683,000 after acquiring an additional 2,160,979 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on EXE shares. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $112.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $136.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on Expand Energy from $125.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen raised Expand Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Expand Energy from $136.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $131.27.

Expand Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXE traded up $5.28 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $110.80. 3,741,644 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,736,853. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.27. Expand Energy has a 1 year low of $91.01 and a 1 year high of $126.62. The company has a market cap of $26.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Expand Energy had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 15.00%. Equities analysts predict that Expand Energy will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expand Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Expand Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.50%.

Expand Energy Company Profile

Expand Energy Corporation is an independent natural gas producer principally in the United States. Expand Energy Corporation, formerly known as Chesapeake Energy Corporation, is based in OKLAHOMA CITY.