Arizona State Retirement System Has $639,000 Position in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 989 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Chesapeake Utilities were worth $639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CPK. Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 60.0% in the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Middle East FZE bought a new stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities during the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities during the 3rd quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.00.

Chesapeake Utilities Price Performance

Shares of CPK stock opened at $102.51 on Friday. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a 12-month low of $83.79 and a 12-month high of $132.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $103.55 and a 200-day moving average of $99.74.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.11. Chesapeake Utilities had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 10.19%. The company had revenue of $185.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $234.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Chesapeake Utilities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Chesapeake Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 49.89%.

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.