Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $109.62 and last traded at $109.34, with a volume of 3109566 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $108.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EXE shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $119.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $128.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $127.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.00.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Up 0.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a PE ratio of 67.42 and a beta of 0.53. 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 $103.42.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. purchased 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $99.50 per share, for a total transaction of $248,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,845 shares in the company, valued at $10,730,577.50. The trade was a 2.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 58.00% of the company’s stock.

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.