Chesapeake Energy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:EXE)

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 7,305 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 10% compared to the average daily volume of 6,616 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on EXE shares. Stephens upgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $86.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Friday, January 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Chesapeake Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.00.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

Shares of Chesapeake Energy stock opened at $108.56 on Thursday. Chesapeake Energy has a 1-year low of $81.66 and a 1-year high of $109.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.42. The stock has a market cap of $25.26 billion, a PE ratio of 67.01 and a beta of 0.53.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently -55.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chesapeake Energy

In other Chesapeake Energy news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $99.50 per share, for a total transaction of $248,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,730,577.50. This represents a 2.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 58.00% of the company’s stock.

Chesapeake Energy Company 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.