JPMorgan Chase & Co. Initiates Coverage on Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE)

Equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 5.30% from the company’s previous close.

EXE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stephens raised their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America started coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $114.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.38.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Chesapeake Energy stock opened at $106.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.65 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.82. 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 has a 52-week low of $69.12 and a 52-week high of $109.47.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.15. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. The company had revenue of $648.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.98 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 57.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.58, for a total transaction of $4,343,978.34. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,201 shares in the company, 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 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.