Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stake in Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK) by 543.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,357 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,680 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Chesapeake Energy were worth $358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Chesapeake Energy by 233.0% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,059,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,769,000 after purchasing an additional 6,338,963 shares in the last quarter. Kimmeridge Energy Management Company LLC grew its stake in shares of Chesapeake Energy by 28.8% during the second quarter. Kimmeridge Energy Management Company LLC now owns 3,694,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,682,000 after acquiring an additional 827,000 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Chesapeake Energy by 18.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,333,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,005,000 after acquiring an additional 510,664 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Chesapeake Energy by 247.9% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 687,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,543,000 after acquiring an additional 490,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Energy by 13.4% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 2,599,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,900,000 after purchasing an additional 307,814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CHK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $108.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $92.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Chesapeake Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.92.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

Shares of Chesapeake Energy stock opened at $81.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 0.47. Chesapeake Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $69.12 and a twelve month high of $93.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.13.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.01). Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 4.00% and a net margin of 8.68%. The company had revenue of $505.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $822.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Chesapeake Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 73.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy Co. will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is 31.00%.

About Chesapeake Energy

Chesapeake Energy Corporation operates as an independent exploration and production company in the United States. It engages in acquisition, exploration, and development of properties to produce oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids from underground reservoirs. The company holds interests in natural gas resource plays in the Marcellus Shale in the northern Appalachian Basin in Pennsylvania and the Haynesville/Bossier Shales in northwestern Louisiana.