Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) Declares $0.64 Quarterly Dividend

Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.64 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, April 7th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%.

Chesapeake Utilities has increased its dividend by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Chesapeake Utilities has a payout ratio of 37.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Chesapeake Utilities to earn $6.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.0%.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Down 0.2 %

CPK opened at $126.34 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.38. Chesapeake Utilities has a twelve month low of $98.32 and a twelve month high of $134.20. The firm has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.63 and a beta of 0.65.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.04). Chesapeake Utilities had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 14.16%. The firm had revenue of $215.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $237.84 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.64 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Utilities will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CPK. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $118.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Chesapeake Utilities presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

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.