Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Expand Energy Corporation $EXE

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 981,525 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,637 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Expand Energy were worth $107,751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Expand Energy by 33.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,251,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,345,303,000 after purchasing an additional 5,291,948 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Expand Energy by 36,574.9% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,420,912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,414,311 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Expand Energy by 192.0% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,286,361 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,683,000 after buying an additional 2,160,979 shares during the period. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Expand Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $145,633,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Expand Energy by 862.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,256,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,542,000 after buying an additional 1,126,363 shares during the period. 97.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Expand Energy

In related news, CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 1,000 shares of Expand Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $88.90 per share, with a total value 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Marcel Teunissen acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was bought 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 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 4,000 shares of company stock worth $375,120. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on EXE. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $135.00 to $127.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. William Blair downgraded shares of Expand Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Expand Energy from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $134.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Expand Energy from $139.00 to $131.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.88.

Expand Energy Price Performance

Shares of EXE stock opened at $87.63 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $91.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.18. Expand Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $84.99 and a 52-week high of $126.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 0.34.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.61 by $0.22. Expand Energy had a return on equity of 10.26% and a net margin of 22.53%.The company had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Expand Energy Corporation will post 8.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Expand Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 14th were issued 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 is presently 17.15%.

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.