Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) Stake Increased by Tradewinds Capital Management LLC

Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 10.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Chesapeake Utilities were worth $116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 33.8% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 91,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,917,000 after purchasing an additional 23,048 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 4.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 90,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,848,000 after purchasing an additional 3,885 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 1.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 21,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,114,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 0.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 252,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,705,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 0.8% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 25,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,461,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CPK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Chesapeake Utilities in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $111.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.80.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:CPK traded down $0.75 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $107.13. The stock had a trading volume of 37,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 123,760. The business’s 50 day moving average is $108.34 and its 200 day moving average is $105.23. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.79 and a fifty-two week high of $124.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.14 by ($0.04). Chesapeake Utilities had a net margin of 13.90% and a return on equity of 10.17%. The company had revenue of $245.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $260.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.04 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend yield of 2.39%. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.