Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Stock

Key Points

• Piper Sandler raised its price target on Expand Energy to $138 and maintained an overweight rating, implying roughly a 28.58% upside from the prior close.
• Market consensus is a Buy with an average analyst target of $130.46, based on 2 Strong Buy, 16 Buy and 2 Hold ratings.
• Expand Energy beat quarterly expectations with $2.00 EPS (vs. $1.89 est.) and $3.27B revenue (vs. $2.28B est.), and CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 2,000 shares at $107.50.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at Piper Sandler from $136.00 to $138.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler's price objective points to a potential upside of 28.58% from the company's previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $150.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Expand Energy from $126.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup increased their target price on Expand Energy from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $141.00 price target on shares of Expand Energy in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Expand Energy from $145.00 to $144.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Expand Energy has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $130.46.

Expand Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXE traded down $1.26 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $107.32. 1,397,074 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,731,368. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Expand Energy has a 1 year low of $91.01 and a 1 year high of $126.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.89. The stock has a market cap of $25.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 0.47.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.11. Expand Energy had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 15.00%.The firm had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Expand Energy will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Expand Energy

In other Expand Energy news, CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 2,000 shares of Expand Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $107.50 per share, with a total value of $215,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EXE. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of Expand Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $209,000. EJMK Ventures LLC acquired a new stake in Expand Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $385,000. Fearnley Asset Management AS purchased a new position in Expand Energy during the fourth quarter worth $12,136,000. Arwa LLC acquired a new position in shares of Expand Energy in the fourth quarter worth $207,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Expand Energy by 760.4% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 869 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. 97.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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