Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $101.46 and last traded at $99.84, with a volume of 2637662 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $96.61.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Mizuho raised their price objective on 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 company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stephens increased their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chesapeake Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.71.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

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 moving average price is $94.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.45 and a beta of 0.52.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $648.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.98 million. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 57.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is presently 141.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of Chesapeake Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.58, for a total transaction of $4,343,978.34. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,201 shares in the company, valued at $517,915.58. This trade represents a 89.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 58.00% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.