Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK) Increases Dividend to $0.72 Per Share

Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 30th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of 0.715 per share on Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $2.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This is an increase from Chesapeake Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58.

Chesapeake Energy has a payout ratio of 29.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Chesapeake Energy to earn $5.81 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 39.6%.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CHK traded down $0.17 during trading on Thursday, reaching $86.51. The stock had a trading volume of 254,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,033,663. Chesapeake Energy has a one year low of $72.84 and a one year high of $93.58. The company has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.10.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $674.99 million. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 4.89% and a net margin of 16.42%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Chesapeake Energy will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CHK shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $119.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $92.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup raised shares of Chesapeake Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $82.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chesapeake Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.83.

Chesapeake Energy Company Profile

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.