Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) Receives $131.45 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $131.4545.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $141.00 target price on shares of Expand Energy in a report on Thursday, February 19th. William Blair lowered shares of Expand Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Expand Energy in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Expand Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Expand Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th.

Expand Energy Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of EXE opened at $91.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.90 billion, a PE ratio of 6.83 and a beta of 0.33. The company’s fifty day moving average is $99.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.15. Expand Energy has a fifty-two week low of $91.01 and a fifty-two week high of $126.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Expand Energy had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 10.26%. Analysts forecast that Expand Energy will post 8.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Expand Energy’s payout ratio is presently 17.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expand Energy

In other Expand Energy news, CEO Michael Wichterich bought 2,000 shares of Expand Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $107.50 per share, for a total transaction of $215,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 83,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,976,035. The trade was a 2.45% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Marcel Teunissen bought 2,000 shares of Expand Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $96.43 per share, for a total transaction of $192,860.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $881,755.92. This represents a 28.00% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Expand Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its holdings in Expand Energy by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its holdings in Expand Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,041,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its holdings in Expand Energy by 74.6% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 234 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Expand Energy by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,657,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Expand Energy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.93% of the company’s stock.

About Expand Energy

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.