Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Grows Position in Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Chesapeake Energy Co. (NASDAQ:CHK) by 7.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,119,498 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 292,586 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 3.14% of Chesapeake Energy worth $338,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Chesapeake Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Chesapeake Energy by 90.8% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Chesapeake Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. BOKF NA purchased a new position in Chesapeake Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Chesapeake Energy by 75.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. 97.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on CHK. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $111.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised Chesapeake Energy to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Chesapeake Energy in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on Chesapeake Energy from $117.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Chesapeake Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.67.

Chesapeake Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CHK opened at $73.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $75.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.91. Chesapeake Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $69.12 and a 1-year high of $93.58. The company has a market cap of $9.57 billion, a PE ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 0.46.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.01). Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 4.00% and a net margin of 8.68%. The company had revenue of $505.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $822.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Chesapeake Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 73.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Chesapeake Energy Co. will post 1.32 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $0.575 dividend. This represents a $2.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Chesapeake Energy’s payout ratio is 31.00%.

Chesapeake Energy 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.