Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Rating Increased to Sector Outperform at Scotiabank

Scotiabank upgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $130.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $105.00.

EXE has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho upped their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chesapeake Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.38.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ EXE opened at $106.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a PE ratio of 65.65 and a beta of 0.52. Chesapeake Energy has a one year low of $69.12 and a one 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.82.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.15. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The business had revenue of $648.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 57.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 141.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chesapeake Energy

In other Chesapeake Energy news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.58, for a total transaction of $4,343,978.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,915.58. This trade represents a 89.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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.