Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. Takes $41.24 Million Position in Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE)

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 370,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $41,235,000. Expand Energy accounts for approximately 1.4% of Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Expand Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $127,038,000. Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $79,015,000. Rhumbline Advisers acquired a new position in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $43,592,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $36,507,000. Finally, Mercuria Capital Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $35,283,000. 97.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on EXE. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $133.00 to $131.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Expand Energy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $108.00 to $116.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. KeyCorp set a $135.00 target price on shares of Expand Energy and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $115.00 to $114.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $93.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $127.55.

Expand Energy Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:EXE traded up $0.29 on Friday, reaching $118.96. The stock had a trading volume of 5,158,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,381,099. The company has a market cap of $28.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.19 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm's fifty day moving average is $113.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.74. Expand Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $81.66 and a 12-month high of $123.35.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. Expand Energy had a negative net margin of 18.49% and a positive return on equity of 4.64%. Equities analysts expect that Expand Energy Corporation will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. Expand Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.91%.

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.