Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases New Position in Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a significant stake in Expand Energy Corporation, purchasing over 26 million shares valued at approximately $2.97 billion, representing 11.22% of the company.
• Expand Energy reported a quarterly revenue of $3.69 billion, surpassing analysts' expectations, although it missed EPS estimates with $1.10 per share.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.575 per share, with a remarkably high payout ratio of 589.74% and an annualized yield of 2.3%.

Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 26,707,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,973,033,000. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.22% of Expand Energy as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Expand Energy during the first quarter worth $3,757,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Expand Energy in the first quarter valued at $1,179,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. bought a new position in Expand Energy in the first quarter valued at $210,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Expand Energy in the first quarter valued at $1,383,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in Expand Energy in the first quarter valued at $75,000. Institutional investors own 97.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Capital set a $125.00 target price on shares of Expand Energy in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Expand Energy to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Tudor Pickering & Holt decreased their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $119.00 to $118.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $141.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Capital One Financial cut their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $105.00 to $101.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $128.92.

Expand Energy Price Performance

EXE stock traded down $2.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $95.89. The stock had a trading volume of 2,857,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,754,682. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Expand Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $69.12 and a 52 week high of $123.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 245.88 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.46.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.04). Expand Energy had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 5.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Expand Energy Corporation will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Expand Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be issued a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. Expand Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 589.74%.

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.