Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $97.36 and last traded at $97.28, with a volume of 585061 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $94.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EXE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Capital upgraded Chesapeake Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Stephens lifted their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America started coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $114.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $99.20.

Chesapeake Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.77 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.15. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The company had revenue of $648.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 57.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is currently 141.98%.

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.