Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Shares Up 2.8% - Time to Buy?

Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) rose 2.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $99.90 and last traded at $99.35. Approximately 407,893 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 2,115,166 shares. The stock had previously closed at $96.61.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group upgraded Chesapeake Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $114.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chesapeake Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $111.71.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Performance

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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $94.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.63 and a beta of 0.52.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.15. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The business had revenue of $648.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.98 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. Chesapeake Energy's revenue for the quarter was down 57.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 0.86 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Chesapeake Energy's payout ratio is 141.98%.

Insider Transactions at Chesapeake Energy

In other Chesapeake Energy news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.58, for a total value of $4,343,978.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,915.58. This represents a 89.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 58.00% of the stock is currently 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.