Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys Shares of 545,477 Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 545,477 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,722,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Expand Energy at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Expand Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $56,000. Piscataqua Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Expand Energy during the 1st quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in Expand Energy during the 1st quarter worth $75,000. 97.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised shares of Expand Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $115.00 to $122.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Expand Energy from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stephens lowered their target price on Expand Energy from $123.00 to $118.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Benchmark boosted their target price on Expand Energy from $93.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp set a $135.00 price target on Expand Energy and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Expand Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $128.40.

Expand Energy Price Performance

EXE traded down $2.25 on Thursday, hitting $108.09. 1,800,376 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,372,360. Expand Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $81.66 and a fifty-two week high of $123.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.17 and a beta of 0.48. The business's fifty day moving average is $114.07 and its 200 day moving average is $106.92.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.17. Expand Energy had a positive return on equity of 4.64% and a negative net margin of 18.49%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.10 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Expand Energy Corporation will post 1.33 EPS for the current 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. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Expand Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -42.91%.

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.