Editor’s Note: Related tickers: SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD), Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK), Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), SandRidge Mississippian Trust II (NYSE:SDR)
Former SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD) CEO Tom Ward is selling off his shares in the company he founded and ran until his recent ouster. Ward has sold nearly $50 million in SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD) stock since his June dismissal, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ward was fired in June following a disagreement with TPG-Axon, one of SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD)’s largest shareholders, but he walked away with a severance package that included more than $90 million in cash and company stock. …Ward still owns more than 13.5 million SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD) shares, which is about 2.7 percent of the company’s outstanding stock, according to a report in The Oklahoman.
S&P Lifts Chesapeake Outlook on Expected Moderate Growth Strategy (WSJ)
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services raised its outlook on Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) to stable from negative, citing expectations the oil-and-gas company will pursue a more moderate growth strategy under its new chief executive. …Natural gas has historically been the focus of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK)’s growth initiatives and accounted for 70% of reserve at the end of last year. However, S&P noted the company has recently put more emphasis on increasing its output of oil and natural-gas liquids as it faces weak natural gas prices and a rapid rise in U.S. industry production. Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) in May named Robert Douglas Lawler, a 46-year-old executive from a rival oil-and-gas company, to succeed its co-founder, Aubrey McClendon, as chief executive.
Exxon Mobil must pay city $105 million for groundwater contamination (NYDailyNews)
A federal appeals court says Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) must pay $105 million to clean up drinking water wells in Queens that it contaminated years ago with a dangerous chemical. The ruling Friday by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2009 Manhattan federal court decision in favor of the city, which had sued Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) in 2003. The energy giant used the gasoline additive MTBE in southeast Queens, despite knowing its gas storage systems would leak and thereby contaminate groundwater collected in city wells. “Yet again, this company – which carelessly polluted our groundwater supply – has been put in its place by a court,” Mayor Bloomberg said Friday.
SandRidge Mississippian Trust II Announces Quarterly Distribution (DailyFinance)
SandRidge Mississippian Trust II (NYSE:SDR) today announced a quarterly distribution for the three-month period ended June 30, 2013 (which primarily relates to production attributable to the Trust’s interests from March 1, 2013 through May 31, 2013) of $34.0 million, or $0.683 per unit. …The Trust owns royalty interests created from interests held by SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE:SD) and its subsidiaries in oil and natural gas properties in the Mississippian formation in Alfalfa, Grant, Kay, Noble, and Woods counties in northern Oklahoma and Barber, Comanche, Harper and Sumner counties in southern Kansas and is entitled to receive proceeds from the sale of production attributable to the royalty interests.
Chesapeake Energy Becomes #46 Most Shorted S&P 500 Component, Replacing Chipotle Mexican Grill (Forbes)
The most recent short interest data has been released by the NASDAQ for the 07/15/2013 settlement date, and we here at Dividend Channel like to sift through this fresh data and order the underlying components of the S&P 500 by “days to cover.” …In our new rank based on the most recent short interest data from NASDAQ, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) has taken over the position of #46 most shorted S&P 500 component, from Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) which is now in the #73 spot. The “days to cover” at 07/15/2013 was 9.28 for Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK), and 7.36 for Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG); this compares to the average across all S&P 500 components of 4.64 (up from the average back on the 06/28/2013 settlement date of 3.58).
Exxon Among Targets for Divestiture in Climate Push (Bloomberg)
Activist Bill McKibben, who helped turn an obscure oil pipeline project into a high-profile political fight, has a new target for his effort to curb global warming: energy companies such as Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) McKibben’s group, 350.org, is asking colleges, cities and churches to divest their financial holdings from a group of 200 companies that produce coal, oil or natural gas. So far six schools, 16 cities and 11 religious institutions have agreed to divest from those companies, according to his group. “We know we can’t bankrupt Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM),” McKibben said in a meeting with Bloomberg News in Washington. “But we think we can politically bankrupt them.”
