Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE)

Expand Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 103,165 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,609% compared to the average daily volume of 6,037 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expand Energy

In other news, COO Joshua J. Viets bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $92.16 per share, with a total value of $184,320.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer owned 61,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,684,060.16. This trade represents a 3.35% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $95.86 per share, for a total transaction of $239,650.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 166,715 shares in the company, valued at $15,981,299.90. The trade was a 1.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Expand Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,973,033,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new stake in Expand Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,310,932,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Expand Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $701,831,000. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Expand Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $624,083,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Expand Energy during the first quarter worth $518,328,000. 97.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Expand Energy Stock Up 0.7%

EXE opened at $119.46 on Thursday. Expand Energy has a 1 year low of $91.01 and a 1 year high of $123.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $103.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $28.45 billion, a PE ratio of 33.94 and a beta of 0.47.

Expand Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.09. Expand Energy had a net margin of 7.99% and a return on equity of 6.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Expand Energy will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Expand Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. Expand Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 65.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EXE. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Expand Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Expand Energy from $141.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Roth Capital downgraded Expand Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price target (up from $146.00) on shares of Expand Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Expand Energy from $140.00 to $136.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.24.

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.