Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Stock Price Up 2.8% – Time to Buy?

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE)’s share price was up 2.8% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $99.90 and last traded at $99.35. Approximately 407,893 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 2,115,166 shares. The stock had previously closed at $96.61.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stephens boosted their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Chesapeake Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $123.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Chesapeake Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.71.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.10 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $94.08.

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

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is 141.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.58, for a total value of $4,343,978.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,915.58. This trade represents a 89.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 58.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.