Raymond James Financial Reaffirms Strong-Buy Rating for Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE)

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial has reaffirmed a strong-buy rating for Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) with a new price target of $150.00, indicating a potential upside of 54.84% from its previous close.
• Expand Energy's recent earnings report revealed an EPS of $1.10, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14, while the company generated revenues of $3.69 billion.
• Insider trading activity shows significant acquisitions, with CEO Domenic J. Dell'osso, Jr. purchasing 2,500 shares and COO Joshua J. Viets acquiring 2,000 shares of Expand Energy stock recently.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "strong-buy" rating reissued by research analysts at Raymond James Financial in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $150.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $146.00. Raymond James Financial's target price would suggest a potential upside of 54.84% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on EXE. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $135.00 to $127.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on Expand Energy from $150.00 to $148.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Expand Energy from $127.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Expand Energy to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $150.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Expand Energy from $145.00 to $132.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $127.69.

Expand Energy Stock Performance

EXE stock opened at $96.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $23.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 248.67 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.10. Expand Energy has a 52 week low of $71.06 and a 52 week high of $123.35.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.14 by ($0.04). Expand Energy had a net margin of 2.41% and a return on equity of 5.76%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Expand Energy will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Expand Energy news, CEO Domenic J. Dell'osso, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $95.86 per share, for a total transaction of $239,650.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 166,715 shares in the company, valued at $15,981,299.90. This trade represents a 1.52% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Joshua J. Viets acquired 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $92.16 per share, with a total value of $184,320.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer owned 61,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,684,060.16. This represents a 3.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Expand Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Expand Energy by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,266,977 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,188,600,000 after acquiring an additional 559,887 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD bought a new position in Expand Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,310,932,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Expand Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $701,831,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Expand Energy by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,812,172 shares of the company's stock worth $677,029,000 after buying an additional 170,222 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $624,083,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.93% of the company's stock.

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.

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