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

Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $111.71.

EXE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $114.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of 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, Roth Capital raised shares of Chesapeake Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXE opened at $94.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.05. Chesapeake Energy has a 52 week low of $69.12 and a 52 week high of $101.27. The company has a market cap of $21.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.56 and a beta of 0.52.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last posted 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 business had revenue of $648.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. Chesapeake Energy’s revenue was down 57.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.86 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 141.98%.

Insider Transactions at Chesapeake Energy

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

About Chesapeake Energy

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.