Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Reaches New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) shares 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 brokerages also recently commented on EXE. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $128.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $119.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chesapeake Energy

In other news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $99.50 per share, for a total transaction of $248,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 107,845 shares in the company, valued at $10,730,577.50. This represents a 2.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 58.00% of the company’s stock.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Performance

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 business has a fifty day moving average of $103.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. Equities analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

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

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.