Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $105.00 to $107.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Chesapeake Energy traded as high as $109.62 and last traded at $109.34, with a volume of 3109566 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.56.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Stephens upgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $133.00 to $131.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $127.00 price target on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $116.00 target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chesapeake Energy

In other Chesapeake Energy news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $99.50 per share, for a total transaction of $248,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,730,577.50. This trade represents a 2.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 58.00% of the company’s stock.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Down 1.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.27 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $103.65.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. Research analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -55.83%.

About Chesapeake 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.