Morgan Stanley Initiates Coverage on Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE)

Research analysts at Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $127.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 23.40% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Roth Capital upgraded Chesapeake Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.63.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

Chesapeake Energy stock opened at $102.92 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $96.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.53 and a beta of 0.52. Chesapeake Energy has a 52 week low of $69.12 and a 52 week high of $104.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 2.00.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $648.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.98 million. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 57.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $517,915.58. This represents a 89.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.