PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Has $1.74 Million Stock Position in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 155 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned 0.07% of Chesapeake Utilities worth $1,743,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,740,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,809,000 after buying an additional 334,088 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 60.1% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 228,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,137,000 after buying an additional 85,801 shares during the last quarter. RMB Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. RMB Capital Management LLC now owns 99,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,468,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tortoise Index Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Index Solutions LLC now owns 42,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,514,000 after buying an additional 9,308 shares during the last quarter. 83.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CPK. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Chesapeake Utilities in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $111.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.80.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Performance

Shares of CPK stock opened at $105.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.07 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.46. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a 52 week low of $83.79 and a 52 week high of $126.23. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $104.97.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.14 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $245.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $260.16 million. Chesapeake Utilities had a return on equity of 10.17% and a net margin of 13.90%. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Chesapeake Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.64 dividend. This is a positive change from Chesapeake Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. Chesapeake Utilities’s payout ratio is currently 53.78%.

About Chesapeake Utilities

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation operates as an energy delivery company. The company operates through two segments, Regulated Energy and Unregulated Energy. The Regulated Energy segment natural gas distribution operations in central and southern Delaware, Maryland's eastern shore, and Florida; regulated natural gas transmission in the Delmarva Peninsula, Ohio, and Florida; and regulated electric distribution in northeast and northwest Florida.