Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $95.05 Million Investment in Expand Energy Corporation $EXE

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,042,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,048,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Expand Energy by 33.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,251,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,345,303,000 after acquiring an additional 5,291,948 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Expand Energy in the second quarter valued at about $1,778,004,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Expand Energy by 8.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,183,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,400,621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014,484 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP increased its position in Expand Energy by 3.5% in the first quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 5,237,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $574,970,000 after purchasing an additional 175,114 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Expand Energy by 94.7% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,498,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $493,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188,422 shares during the period. 97.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Expand Energy Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:EXE opened at $98.00 on Friday. Expand Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $84.99 and a 1-year high of $126.62. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $91.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 0.34.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Expand Energy had a return on equity of 10.33% and a net margin of 20.46%. On average, equities analysts expect that Expand Energy Corporation will post 8.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Expand Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expand Energy

In other news, CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $88.90 per share, with a total value of $88,900.00. Following the acquisition, 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price objective on shares of Expand Energy in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $110.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Expand Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.89.

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.