Expand Energy Corporation $EXE Shares Bought by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) by 110.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 776,111 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 406,535 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Expand Energy were worth $85,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Expand Energy by 25.9% in the 4th quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 77,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,523,000 after buying an additional 15,904 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its stake in Expand Energy by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 239,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,443,000 after purchasing an additional 34,132 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Expand Energy by 36,574.9% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,420,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,414,311 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new position in shares of Expand Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,153,000. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company grew its position in shares of Expand Energy by 90.9% during the fourth quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 49,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,467,000 after buying an additional 23,590 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays lowered Expand Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. William Blair downgraded Expand Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Expand Energy in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Expand Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Expand Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.19.

Expand Energy Price Performance

EXE opened at $91.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $90.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.23. Expand Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $84.99 and a fifty-two week high of $126.62. The firm has a market cap of $21.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.82 and a beta of 0.34.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Expand Energy had a return on equity of 10.26% and a net margin of 22.53%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Expand Energy Corporation will post 8.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Expand Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a $0.575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Expand Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael Wichterich bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $88.90 per share, with a total value of $88,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 85,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,600,772.20. This represents a 1.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Marcel Teunissen bought 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $96.43 per share, for a total transaction of $192,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $881,755.92. This trade represents a 28.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased a total of 4,000 shares of company stock valued at $375,120 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.