Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Mizuho Analyst Says

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Free Report) had its price objective upped by Mizuho from $110.00 to $128.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America started coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $114.00 price objective for the company. Roth Capital raised Chesapeake Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Chesapeake Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $94.00 to $123.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given 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 $111.71.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

EXE stock traded down $1.82 during trading on Monday, reaching $96.71. 1,664,060 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,111,578. The company has a market capitalization of $22.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.92 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The business's 50-day moving average is $92.16. Chesapeake Energy has a twelve month low of $69.12 and a twelve month high of $101.27.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. The company had revenue of $648.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $708.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 57.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.86 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Chesapeake Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 141.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Chesapeake Energy news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the firm'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 sale, the director now directly owns 5,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,915.58. This trade represents a 89.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 58.00% of the stock is 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.