Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on EXE. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $96.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Stephens upgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.00.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.42 and a beta of 0.53. 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 (NASDAQ:EXE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is -55.83%.

Insider Activity at Chesapeake Energy

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

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.