Federated Hermes Inc. Has $827,000 Holdings in Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK)

Federated Hermes Inc. decreased its stake in Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK) by 20.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,060 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,563 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Chesapeake Energy were worth $827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CHK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Chesapeake Energy by 233.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,059,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,769,000 after acquiring an additional 6,338,963 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in shares of Chesapeake Energy by 13.4% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 2,599,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,900,000 after acquiring an additional 307,814 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Chesapeake Energy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 640,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,272,000 after acquiring an additional 2,206 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Chesapeake Energy by 1.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 468,133 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,584,000 after purchasing an additional 6,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scout Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Chesapeake Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,079,000. 97.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho cut their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $111.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stephens increased their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $117.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Chesapeake Energy to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.92.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ CHK opened at $78.46 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.16. The stock has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.57 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.71. Chesapeake Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $69.12 and a 52-week high of $93.58.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $505.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $822.54 million. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 4.00% and a net margin of 8.68%. The company’s revenue was down 73.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy Co. will post 1.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.00%.

Chesapeake Energy Company Profile

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.