Brokerages Set Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) Target Price at $127.46

Key Points

• Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) has received a consensus rating of "Buy" from 21 research firms, with average 12-month target price set at $127.46.
• Despite reporting a quarterly earnings miss of $1.10 per share against an estimate of $1.14, the company's revenue exceeded expectations at $3.69 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.575 per share, representing a 2.3% dividend yield, with a notably high payout ratio of 589.74%.

Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $127.4615.

EXE has been the subject of several research reports. Tudor Pickering & Holt dropped their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $119.00 to $118.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Roth Capital cut shares of Expand Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Mizuho set a $136.00 price objective on shares of Expand Energy in a research note on Monday, September 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $127.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Capital One Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd.

Insider Activity at Expand Energy

In other news, CEO Domenic J. Dell'osso, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was 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 directly owned 166,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,981,299.90. This represents a 1.52% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Joshua J. Viets purchased 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $92.16 per share, with a total value of $184,320.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 61,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,684,060.16. This trade represents a 3.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Expand Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Expand Energy by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,266,977 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,188,600,000 after buying an additional 559,887 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new position in shares of Expand Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,310,932,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Expand Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $701,831,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Expand Energy by 3.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,812,172 shares of the company's stock valued at $677,029,000 after purchasing an additional 170,222 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Expand Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $624,083,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.93% of the company's stock.

Expand Energy Price Performance

Shares of EXE stock traded up $2.65 on Friday, reaching $100.91. 1,481,652 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,693,131. The company has a market cap of $24.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 258.72 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $98.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Expand Energy has a 1 year low of $77.41 and a 1 year high of $123.35.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.04). Expand Energy had a return on equity of 5.76% and a net margin of 2.41%.The company had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.09 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Expand Energy will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expand Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. Expand Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 589.74%.

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.