Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Price Target Raised to $116.00

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) had its price objective increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $102.00 to $116.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stephens raised their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $90.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.71.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ EXE opened at $98.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a PE ratio of 61.73 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Chesapeake Energy has a 1-year low of $69.12 and a 1-year high of $101.27.

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

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is 141.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of Chesapeake Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.58, for a total transaction of $4,343,978.34. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,915.58. The trade was a 89.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.