Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Now Covered by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) in a report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on EXE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $83.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Stephens upped their price target on Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $109.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $116.00 target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $114.73.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

EXE stock traded up $2.54 on Thursday, reaching $107.78. 4,329,648 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,238,534. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.53 and a beta of 0.52. Chesapeake Energy has a 12 month low of $69.12 and a 12 month high of $108.83. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.54. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last released its 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 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 revenue was down 57.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. Chesapeake Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 141.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the business'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 transaction of $4,343,978.34. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,201 shares of the company's stock, valued at $517,915.58. The trade was a 89.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.17% 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.