Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK) Declares $0.58 Quarterly Dividend

Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, July 29th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of 0.575 per share on Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th.

Chesapeake Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 41.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Chesapeake Energy to earn $5.19 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.3%.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CHK opened at $76.90 on Wednesday. Chesapeake Energy has a 52-week low of $72.84 and a 52-week high of $93.58. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 0.47.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $505.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $822.54 million. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 3.99% and a net margin of 8.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 73.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy will post 1.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $112.00 to $108.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.69.

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.