River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 17,183 Shares of Expand Energy Corporation $EXE

River Road Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) by 36.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,033 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,183 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Expand Energy were worth $3,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its stake in shares of Expand Energy by 74.6% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Expand Energy by 350.9% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 248 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Expand Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Abound Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Expand Energy by 890.0% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Expand Energy by 564.6% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair downgraded shares of Expand Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $112.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $134.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Expand Energy in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Expand Energy from $141.00 to $139.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Expand Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.45.

Insider Activity at Expand Energy

In other news, CFO Marcel Teunissen bought 2,000 shares of Expand Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $96.43 per share, with a total value of $192,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,144 shares in the company, valued at $881,755.92. This trade represents a 28.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $88.90 per share, for a total transaction of $88,900.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 85,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,600,772.20. This represents a 1.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have bought a total of 4,000 shares of company stock worth $375,120 in the last three months. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Expand Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ EXE opened at $86.98 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $94.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.46. Expand Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $86.37 and a 52-week high of $126.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.49 and a beta of 0.33.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.61 by $0.22. Expand Energy had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The business had revenue of $4.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Expand Energy Corporation will post 8.7 EPS for the current year.

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a $0.575 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Expand Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.15%.

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.