Traders Purchase Large Volume of Chesapeake Energy Call Options (NASDAQ:EXE)

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 7,305 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 10% compared to the typical volume of 6,616 call options.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ EXE opened at $108.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.00. The company has a market cap of $25.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.01 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $103.42. Chesapeake Energy has a 52 week low of $81.66 and a 52 week high of $109.47.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is -55.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on EXE. Stephens raised shares of Chesapeake Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company 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 stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $133.00 to $131.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler upped their price target 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. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $128.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chesapeake Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chesapeake Energy

In related news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $99.50 per share, with a total value of $248,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,730,577.50. This represents a 2.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.