800 Shares in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) Acquired by nVerses Capital LLC

nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $99,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CPK. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 228,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,137,000 after purchasing an additional 85,801 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,740,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,809,000 after purchasing an additional 334,088 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 17.4% in the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 26,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 133,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,299,000 after purchasing an additional 10,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 5,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. 83.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul L. Maddock, Jr. sold 9,634 shares of Chesapeake Utilities stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $1,094,037.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $949,702.28. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barclays lifted their target price on Chesapeake Utilities from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Up 0.3 %

Chesapeake Utilities stock opened at $122.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.32. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a 1-year low of $83.79 and a 1-year high of $125.34. The company has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 25.67 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $119.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.80.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $166.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $194.70 million. Chesapeake Utilities had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 13.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.78%.

Chesapeake Utilities Company Profile

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.