Castleark Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in Expand Energy Corporation $EXE

Castleark Management LLC purchased a new stake in Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 61,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,584,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 5,291,948 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Expand Energy during the second quarter worth $1,778,004,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Expand Energy by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,183,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,400,621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014,484 shares in the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP raised its position in Expand Energy by 3.5% during the first quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 5,237,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $574,970,000 after acquiring an additional 175,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Expand Energy by 94.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,188,422 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.93% of the company’s stock.

Expand Energy Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of EXE opened at $94.66 on Wednesday. Expand Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $84.99 and a 52 week high of $126.62. The firm has a market cap of $21.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.17 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

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

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Expand Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EXE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $114.00 price objective on shares of Expand Energy in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Expand Energy from $110.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings cut Expand Energy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Expand Energy from $127.00 to $124.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Expand Energy from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Expand Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael Wichterich purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $88.90 per share, with a total value of $88,900.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 85,498 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,600,772.20. This trade represents a 1.18% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.22% 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.