Expand Energy Corporation $EXE Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its Expand Energy stake by 4.8% in Q4, selling 52,829 shares. It still held about 1.05 million shares valued at roughly $115.5 million.
• Expand Energy recently beat earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $3.83 EPS versus $3.61 expected and $4.40 billion in revenue versus $3.53 billion expected. Analysts still see full-year EPS of 8.8.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.575 per share, payable June 4, for an annualized yield of 2.5%. Insider buying also stood out, with both the CFO and CEO purchasing shares earlier this year.

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in shares of Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,046,922 shares of the company's stock after selling 52,829 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.44% of Expand Energy worth $115,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its position in shares of Expand Energy by 74.6% during the 4th quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 234 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. ESL Trust Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Expand Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Abound Wealth Management boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Expand Energy by 85.0% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 433 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.93% of the company's stock.

Expand Energy Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ EXE opened at $93.59 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $100.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.49. Expand Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $91.01 and a 12 month high of $126.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 0.36.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Expand Energy had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The company had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.53 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Expand Energy Corporation will post 8.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EXE. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Expand Energy from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $123.00 price target on shares of Expand Energy in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $141.00 target price on shares of Expand Energy in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $131.45.

Insider Transactions at Expand Energy

In other Expand Energy news, CFO Marcel Teunissen purchased 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $881,755.92. This trade represents a 28.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $107.50 per share, for a total transaction of $215,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 83,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,976,035. This trade represents a 2.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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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