Romano Brothers AND Company Boosts Holdings in Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK)

Romano Brothers AND Company raised its stake in Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK) by 29.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,850 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,300 shares during the quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Chesapeake Energy were worth $2,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Chesapeake Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. BOKF NA bought a new position in shares of Chesapeake Energy during the 1st quarter worth $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Chesapeake Energy by 75.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Chesapeake Energy by 895.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 677 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Chesapeake Energy by 1,384.8% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 683 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. 97.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $93.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Roth Capital upgraded Chesapeake Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Chesapeake Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.92.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

Shares of CHK opened at $81.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 0.47. Chesapeake Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $69.12 and a 1 year high of $93.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $505.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $822.54 million. Chesapeake Energy had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 4.00%. Chesapeake Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 73.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy Co. will post 1.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is 31.00%.

About Chesapeake Energy

Chesapeake Energy Corporation operates as an independent exploration and production company in the United States. It engages in acquisition, exploration, and development of properties to produce oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids from underground reservoirs. The company holds interests in natural gas resource plays in the Marcellus Shale in the northern Appalachian Basin in Pennsylvania and the Haynesville/Bossier Shales in northwestern Louisiana.