Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $101.71.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on EXE shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

Chesapeake Energy Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Chesapeake Energy stock opened at $98.96 on Monday. Chesapeake Energy has a 12-month low of $69.12 and a 12-month high of $101.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.87 billion, a PE ratio of 61.09 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $90.48.

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

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 141.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.58, for a total transaction of $4,343,978.34. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,201 shares in the company, valued at $517,915.58. This represents a 89.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 58.00% of the stock is owned by company 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.