Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Price Target Raised to $112.00

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) had its price target upped by Benchmark from $93.00 to $112.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on EXE. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a report on Friday, January 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $116.00 price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Chesapeake Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.35.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Down 9.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXE opened at $100.01 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $104.45. The company has a market cap of $23.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.73 and a beta of 0.44. Chesapeake Energy has a fifty-two week low of $81.66 and a fifty-two week high of $114.03.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 6.07% and a return on equity of 2.74%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is presently -55.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $99.50 per share, with a total value of $248,750.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 107,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,730,577.50. This represents a 2.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 58.00% of the company’s stock.

Chesapeake Energy Company Profile

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.