Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $110.10 and last traded at $109.81, with a volume of 4518383 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $109.10.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $116.00 price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Stephens raised Chesapeake Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $86.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Scotiabank raised shares of Chesapeake Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Friday, January 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Chesapeake Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.12.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Up 0.7 %

The company’s 50 day moving average is $103.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.78 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. On average, analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently -55.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chesapeake Energy

In other news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. acquired 2,500 shares of Chesapeake Energy stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 107,845 shares in the company, valued at $10,730,577.50. This trade represents a 2.37 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate 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.