Even as we reported how the stock buyups by executives at Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy were growing, more purchases were made this week by leaders of the company.
Chairman Emeritus Archie Dunham made still another acquisition as reported by Chesapeake in a filing made Dec. 26 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. His latest purchase was of 2,100,000 company shares at a price of $1.96 per share. It was a more than $4.3 million purchase, leaving Dunham with a total of 9,347,375 shares in the company.
But he wasn’t the only executive to buy shares. So did M. Jason Pigott, Executive Vice President of Operations and Technical Services. A Dec. 26 SEC filing showed he purchased 11,000 shares at $1.93 each which was a more than $2.1 million acquisition. The move left him with a total of 995,890 shares in Chesapeake Energy.
OK Energy Today has been reporting on the recent SEC filings and acquisitions ( OKEnergyToday 12-21) and they also caught the attention of Barron’s Financial and Investment News.
Here’s how it reported the acquisitions by Archie Dunham, Robert Lawler and others but before the Dec. 26 purchases.
Chesapeake Energy shares have lost more than half their value this year, but stalwart stock buyers have emerged from among insiders at the oil and natural-gas company.
Dunham, former chairman, president and CEO of Conoco, a predecessor company to ConocoPhillips (COP), bought 1.2 million Chesapeake shares on Dec. 18 for $2.66 million, an average of $2.22 each, then he bought another 1.2 million shares on Dec. 19 for $2.42 million, an average of $2.02 each, according to forms he filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission. He now owns 7.25 million Chesapeake shares in his personal account.
His last stock purchase previous to this year was on March 8, 2017, when Dunham paid $2.62 million for 500,000 Chesapeake shares at an average price of $5.24 each—more than twice the cost of his latest purchase. Indeed, before this year’s price collapse, Chesapeake stock tumbled 44% in 2017.
Martin paid $350,250 for 135,000 Chesapeake shares from Dec. 11 through 14, an average per-share price of $2.59. He now owns 752,900 shares in his personal account and an additional 75,000 shares through a trust.
Prior to this year, Martin’s most recent purchase was on Aug. 11 when he paid $102,625 for 25,000 shares, an average of $4.11 each.
CEO Robert Lawler also bought 100,000 shares at an average of $1.86, paying a total of $186,000 on December 20. It was his first purchase since 2015. CFO Domenic Dell’osso kicked in a smaller 50,000-share purchase at $1.88, for a total of $93,800.
Is Dunham, with that large purchase of Chesapeake stock, calling a bottom?
“No, I don’t think anybody is that smart,” Dunham tells Barron’s in a telephone interview. “I buy when I think the opportunity is good.”
Chesapeake has been a victim of falling energy prices, Dunham notes, but that will change. “The market will correct itself,” he says. “I don’t know when, but I feel confident oil prices will settle at $60 to $70 [a barrel]. I’ve been in the business for 50 years, and I’ve seen a lot of cycles.”
“I look at this as an opportunity and I have great confidence in the future of the company,” adds Dunham. “[President and CEO] Bob Lawler is an outstanding leader.”