Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) Receives $115.78 Average Price Target from Analysts

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $115.38.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Stephens increased 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $127.00 target price for the company.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Performance

EXE stock opened at $106.36 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.82. Chesapeake Energy has a fifty-two week low of $69.12 and a fifty-two week high of $109.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.65 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.00.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $648.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.98 million. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 57.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is currently 141.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Chesapeake Energy news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.17% 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.