Chesapeake Energy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:EXE)

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 7,305 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 10% compared to the average volume of 6,616 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chesapeake Energy

In other news, CEO Domenic J. Dell'osso, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $99.50 per share, for a total transaction of $248,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,845 shares in the company, valued at $10,730,577.50. The trade was a 2.37 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 58.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Chesapeake Energy Trading Down 1.7 %

EXE traded down $1.90 on Friday, hitting $107.35. 53,145,096 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,219,770. Chesapeake Energy has a twelve month low of $81.66 and a twelve month high of $109.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.27 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $103.65.

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Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. Equities analysts expect that Chesapeake Energy will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Chesapeake Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -55.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $114.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Friday, January 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $121.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $127.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stephens upgraded Chesapeake Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $86.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $119.12.

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.