Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Upgraded at Stephens

Stephens upgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. Stephens currently has $123.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $86.00.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upgraded Chesapeake Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $105.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group upped their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $119.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $119.12.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ EXE opened at $109.25 on Tuesday. Chesapeake Energy has a 1 year low of $81.66 and a 1 year high of $109.63. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.44 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.54.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. Research analysts expect that Chesapeake Energy will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently -55.83%.

Insider Activity at Chesapeake Energy

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