Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Shares Up 2.8% – What’s Next?

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE)’s share price shot up 2.8% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $99.90 and last traded at $99.35. 407,893 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 2,115,166 shares. The stock had previously closed at $96.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on EXE. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $114.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.71.

Chesapeake Energy Trading Up 4.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $94.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a PE ratio of 62.10 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 141.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $517,915.58. The trade was a 89.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.