Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on EXE. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded Chesapeake Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $105.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $137.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $128.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Chesapeake Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $120.71.

Chesapeake Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

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’s fifty day moving average price is $104.03. The firm has a market cap of $25.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.68 and a beta of 0.53.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 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 return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. On average, analysts predict that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is -55.83%.

Insider Activity at Chesapeake Energy

In other news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 approximately $10,730,577.50. The trade was a 2.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 58.00% of the stock is currently 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.