Stock Buyback Plan Declared by Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK) Board

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK – Get Rating) announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 22nd, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 20.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Chesapeake Energy from $88.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 14th. Credit Suisse Group initiated coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Tuesday, June 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. TheStreet lowered shares of Chesapeake Energy from a “c-” rating to a “d” rating in a report on Thursday, May 5th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $104.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $88.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 8th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.91.

CHK stock traded down $6.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $76.34. The company had a trading volume of 4,051,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,947,987. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $90.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.29. Chesapeake Energy has a 12-month low of $48.19 and a 12-month high of $105.00. The company has a market capitalization of $9.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 4th. The company reported $3.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.63. The company had revenue of $935.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Chesapeake Energy had a positive return on equity of 27.28% and a negative net margin of 2.03%. Chesapeake Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Chesapeake Energy will post 13.75 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 19th were given a dividend of $2.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 18th. This represents a yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from Chesapeake Energy’s previous None dividend of $0.44. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -62.89%.

In related news, COO Joshua J. Viets purchased 2,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $84.41 per share, for a total transaction of $206,804.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 25,804 shares in the company, valued at $2,178,115.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Holdings L.P. Blackstone III sold 4,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.11, for a total transaction of $424,065.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,311,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $131,310,582.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 205,986 shares of company stock valued at $19,823,966 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Chesapeake Energy Company Profile (Get Rating)

Chesapeake Energy Corporation, an independent exploration and production company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of properties for the production of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids from underground reservoirs in the United States. 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; and the liquids-rich resource play in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.

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