Benchmark Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Stock

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) had its price objective hoisted by Benchmark from $93.00 to $112.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Benchmark’s target price points to a potential upside of 0.85% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on EXE. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $119.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James initiated coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $135.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a report on Friday, January 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $121.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.35.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ EXE traded down $2.81 during trading on Thursday, reaching $111.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 928,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,356,942. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $104.48. Chesapeake Energy has a one year low of $81.66 and a one year high of $114.03. The company has a market capitalization of $25.84 billion, a PE ratio of 68.56 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.

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

Insider Transactions at Chesapeake Energy

In other Chesapeake Energy news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of Chesapeake Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $99.50 per share, with a total value of $248,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 107,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,730,577.50. This represents a 2.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 58.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.