Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Raised to "Buy" at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $123.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Chesapeake Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Chesapeake Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $109.14.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Chesapeake Energy stock traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $97.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,493,052 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,104,932. Chesapeake Energy has a one year low of $69.12 and a one year high of $101.27. The stock has a market cap of $22.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.61 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.21. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $648.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.98 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 57.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Chesapeake Energy's payout ratio is presently 141.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chesapeake Energy

In other 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 value of $4,343,978.34. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,915.58. The trade was a 89.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.17% 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.