Altshuler Shaham Ltd Increases Stake in Expand Energy Corporation $EXE

Key Points

• Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) by 7.9% in Q4, adding 125,094 shares to bring its total holdings to 1,716,853 shares worth about $189.5 million.
• Expand Energy recently reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $3.83 versus expectations of $3.61 and revenue of $4.40 billion versus estimates of $3.53 billion.
• Despite the earnings beat, the stock traded near its 52-week low at $87.46, while analysts maintained a generally positive view with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $131.45 average price target.

Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,716,853 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 125,094 shares during the period. Expand Energy comprises 2.8% of Altshuler Shaham Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Altshuler Shaham Ltd owned 0.72% of Expand Energy worth $189,472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its position in shares of Expand Energy by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,383 shares of the company's stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its stake in shares of Expand Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 9,800 shares of the company's stock worth $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its stake in shares of Expand Energy by 74.6% in the fourth quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 234 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Expand Energy by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,073 shares of the company's stock worth $2,657,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Expand Energy by 5.2% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,184 shares of the company's stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. 97.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Expand Energy in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler increased 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $123.00 price objective on shares of Expand Energy in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, William Blair cut shares of Expand Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $131.45.

Expand Energy Stock Performance

EXE opened at $87.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.52 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a fifty day moving average of $95.28 and a 200 day moving average of $103.83. Expand Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $86.80 and a fifty-two week high of $126.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.22. Expand Energy had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The business had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.53 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Expand Energy Corporation will post 8.87 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, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were paid a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Expand Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expand Energy news, CFO Marcel Teunissen acquired 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $96.43 per share, with a total value of $192,860.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $881,755.92. This represents a 28.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Wichterich acquired 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $88.90 per share, with a total value of $88,900.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 85,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,600,772.20. This represents a 1.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders acquired a total of 4,000 shares of company stock valued at $375,120 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.22% 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.

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