Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Cuts Stock Position in Expand Energy Corporation $EXE

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) by 21.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 605,590 shares of the company’s stock after selling 163,605 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 0.25% of Expand Energy worth $66,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Expand Energy in the first quarter worth about $2,599,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $208,000. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $205,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Expand Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $79,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Expand Energy by 39.3% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,350 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,642,000 after buying an additional 18,446 shares in the last quarter. 97.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. TD Cowen raised shares of Expand Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $136.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $141.00 price target on shares of Expand Energy in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Expand Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Expand Energy presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.48.

Expand Energy Trading Down 1.8%

EXE stock opened at $111.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $107.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.14. Expand Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $91.01 and a fifty-two week high of $126.62. The firm has a market cap of $26.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.78 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last released 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 net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 8.17%. The business had revenue of $3.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Expand Energy Corporation will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a $0.575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Expand Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $107.50 per share, for a total transaction of $215,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 83,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,976,035. The trade was a 2.45% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Expand Energy 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.