Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 1,522,321 Shares of Expand Energy Corporation $EXE

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management slashed its stake in Expand Energy by 92.7% in Q1, selling 1.52 million shares and leaving it with 120,458 shares valued at about $13.2 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is mixed but still positive: the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $131.45, though William Blair downgraded it to market perform.
• Expand Energy reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.575 per share, equal to a 2.6% annualized yield.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) by 92.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,458 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,522,321 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.05% of Expand Energy worth $13,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of EXE. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its position in Expand Energy by 74.6% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 234 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Expand Energy by 350.9% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 248 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Expand Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Expand Energy by 890.0% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 297 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Expand Energy by 564.6% during the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXE has been the topic of several analyst reports. William Blair cut shares of Expand Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Expand Energy in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $112.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $136.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $141.00 to $139.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Two 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Expand Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $131.45.

Expand Energy Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Expand Energy stock opened at $88.47 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.31. The stock has a market cap of $21.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 0.33. Expand Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $86.37 and a 12-month high of $126.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.22. Expand Energy had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.53 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Expand Energy Corporation will post 8.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expand Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 14th. Expand Energy's payout ratio is presently 17.15%.

Insider Activity at Expand Energy

In other news, CEO Michael Wichterich acquired 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $88.90 per share, with a total value of $88,900.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Marcel Teunissen acquired 2,000 shares of Expand Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $96.43 per share, for a total transaction of $192,860.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,144 shares in the company, valued at $881,755.92. The trade was a 28.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders acquired a total of 4,000 shares of company stock valued at $375,120 over the last ninety days. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Expand Energy 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.

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