Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE)

Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors purchased 103,165 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,609% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,037 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXE has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $135.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Expand Energy from $131.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Expand Energy from $140.00 to $136.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Expand Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Roth Capital lowered shares of Expand Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Expand Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expand Energy

In other Expand Energy news, COO Joshua J. Viets purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $92.16 per share, with a total value of $184,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 61,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,684,060.16. This trade represents a 3.35% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $95.86 per share, with a total value of $239,650.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 166,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,981,299.90. This trade represents a 1.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Expand Energy by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,913,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,965,510,000 after buying an additional 646,330 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD bought a new position in shares of Expand Energy in the first quarter worth $1,310,932,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Expand Energy in the first quarter valued at $701,831,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Expand Energy by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,812,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $677,029,000 after purchasing an additional 170,222 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Expand Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $624,083,000. Institutional investors own 97.93% of the company’s stock.

Expand Energy Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ EXE traded up $1.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $119.69. 2,516,695 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,642,337. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Expand Energy has a one year low of $91.01 and a one year high of $123.35. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $103.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.23. The company has a market cap of $28.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.00 and a beta of 0.47.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.09. Expand Energy had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 6.31%. The business had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Expand Energy will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be issued a $0.575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Expand Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.34%.

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.