Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the four ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $111.20.

Separately, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Paul L. Maddock, Jr. sold 9,634 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $1,094,037.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $949,702.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Chesapeake Utilities

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CPK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 23.8% in the fourth 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 period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 136.1% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 234,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,823,000 after buying an additional 135,462 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 76.1% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 274,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,142,000 after acquiring an additional 118,561 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 61.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 275,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,529,000 after acquiring an additional 104,850 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 28.4% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 428,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,014,000 after acquiring an additional 94,980 shares during the period. 83.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Performance

NYSE:CPK opened at $123.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.38. Chesapeake Utilities has a fifty-two week low of $83.79 and a fifty-two week high of $125.34. The company has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.91 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $118.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.52.

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

Chesapeake Utilities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. 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.