Analysts Set Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) Price Target at $111.71

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $111.71.

Several equities analysts recently commented on EXE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group upgraded Chesapeake Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $94.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Roth Capital upgraded Chesapeake Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $114.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Chesapeake Energy

In other news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.58, for a total value of $4,343,978.34. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $517,915.58. The trade was a 89.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 58.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Performance

Chesapeake Energy stock opened at $97.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 2.00. Chesapeake Energy has a 52 week low of $69.12 and a 52 week high of $101.27. The firm has a market cap of $22.53 billion, a PE ratio of 60.17 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.25.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $648.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 57.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.575 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.