Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Makes New Investment in Expand Energy Corporation $EXE

Key Points

• Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. initiated a new position in Expand Energy, buying 197,822 shares worth about $21.8 million in the fourth quarter.
• Expand Energy has continued to attract heavy institutional interest, with hedge funds and asset managers owning 97.93% of the stock. Recent insider buying also included CEO Michael Wichterich and CFO Marcel Teunissen purchasing shares.
• Analysts remain mixed on the stock: Barclays downgraded it to reduce, while the consensus rating is still Moderate Buy with an average price target of $131.45. The company also beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates and recently paid a $0.575 quarterly dividend.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 197,822 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,832,000. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Expand Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in shares of Expand Energy by 12.8% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 120,840 shares of the company's stock worth $12,838,000 after purchasing an additional 13,670 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Expand Energy by 513.9% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 36,781 shares of the company's stock worth $3,908,000 after purchasing an additional 30,790 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Expand Energy by 36,574.9% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,420,912 shares of the company's stock worth $267,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,414,311 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. grew its holdings in shares of Expand Energy by 59.0% during the third quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 30,794 shares of the company's stock worth $3,272,000 after purchasing an additional 11,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sierra Summit Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Expand Energy by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 77,230 shares of the company's stock worth $8,523,000 after purchasing an additional 15,904 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EXE. Barclays cut Expand Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Benchmark boosted their price target on Expand Energy from $112.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $141.00 price target on shares of Expand Energy in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $134.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Expand Energy in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $123.00 price target on Expand Energy in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Two equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Expand Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $131.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Expand Energy news, CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $93.36 per share, for a total transaction of $93,360.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 84,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,888,733.28. This represents a 1.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Marcel Teunissen purchased 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $96.43 per share, for a total transaction of $192,860.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $881,755.92. This represents a 28.00% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Expand Energy

Here are the key news stories impacting Expand Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CEO Michael Wichterich bought 1,000 shares at $93.36, a move that can signal confidence in Expand Energy’s outlook and management’s view of the stock’s value.
• Neutral Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its Q4 2027 earnings estimate for Expand Energy to $3.19 per share from $2.97, indicating improved longer-term expectations for that quarter.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company recently paid its quarterly dividend of $0.575 per share, supporting income-focused investors but not likely a major near-term stock driver.
• Negative Sentiment: KeyCorp lowered its FY2026 earnings estimate to $9.71 per share from $10.51, suggesting a softer near-term profit outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also cut its Q2 2026 EPS estimate to $1.38 from $1.61 and trimmed Q1 2027, Q2 2027, Q3 2027, Q4 2026, and FY2027 estimates, reflecting a broader downgrade to expected earnings momentum.

Expand Energy Stock Performance

Shares of EXE stock opened at $92.07 on Friday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $98.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.51. Expand Energy Corporation has a one year low of $90.79 and a one year high of $126.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

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

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. Expand Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 17.15%.

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.

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