Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $115.78.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EXE shares. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a report on Friday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $127.00 price target on the stock. Roth Capital upgraded Chesapeake Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Chesapeake Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chesapeake Energy

In other Chesapeake Energy news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 5,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,915.58. This trade represents a 89.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 58.00% of the company’s stock.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

EXE stock opened at $102.21 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Chesapeake Energy has a 52 week low of $69.12 and a 52 week high of $105.00. The company has a market capitalization of $23.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.09 and a beta of 0.52.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.15. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The firm had revenue of $648.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $708.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 57.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.86 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 141.98%.

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.