Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) Stake Lifted by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 6.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 677 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.05% of Chesapeake Utilities worth $1,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 409.4% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 13,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,442,000 after buying an additional 10,914 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 48,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,202,000 after buying an additional 3,403 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 51,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,505,000 after buying an additional 1,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 40.4% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 26,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,767,000 after buying an additional 7,500 shares during the last quarter. 83.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barclays increased their price target on Chesapeake Utilities from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.75.

Chesapeake Utilities Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Chesapeake Utilities stock opened at $117.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.23. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.79 and a fifty-two week high of $125.34.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last announced 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 net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 9.51%. The firm had revenue of $166.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $194.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Utilities Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is 54.70%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paul L. Maddock, Jr. sold 9,634 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 8,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $949,702.28. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.