Citigroup Raises Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Price Target to $125.00

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) had its target price lifted by Citigroup from $115.00 to $125.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Roth Capital upgraded Chesapeake Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens increased their target price 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. UBS Group raised shares of Chesapeake Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $94.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $127.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Chesapeake Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.73.

Chesapeake Energy Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of EXE opened at $107.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $24.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.53 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $98.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 2.00. Chesapeake Energy has a 12 month low of $69.12 and a 12 month high of $108.83.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last released 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 firm had revenue of $648.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $708.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 57.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Chesapeake Energy will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 141.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Catherine A. Kehr sold 43,623 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.58, for a total transaction of $4,343,978.34. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,915.58. This represents a 89.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.