Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Buys 268 Shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 2.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Chesapeake Utilities were worth $1,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 23.8% during 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. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position 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 worth $24,823,000 after buying an additional 135,462 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 76.1% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 274,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,142,000 after buying an additional 118,561 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 61.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 275,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,529,000 after buying an additional 104,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 28.4% in the 1st 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 last quarter. 83.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Chesapeake Utilities

In related news, Director Paul L. Maddock, Jr. sold 9,634 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $1,094,037.04. Following 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barclays upped their price objective on Chesapeake Utilities from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chesapeake Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.20.

Chesapeake Utilities Trading Down 1.1 %

CPK opened at $120.81 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $118.66 and a 200 day moving average of $111.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a 12 month low of $83.79 and a 12 month high of $125.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.61 and a beta of 0.60.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.02). Chesapeake Utilities had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 13.61%. The company had revenue of $166.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $194.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Chesapeake Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Chesapeake Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.78%.

Chesapeake Utilities 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.