New York State Teachers Retirement System Buys 300 Shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Chesapeake Utilities were worth $587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,900,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $345,128,000 after buying an additional 438,569 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,414,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,181,000 after buying an additional 51,208 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 668,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,960,000 after buying an additional 9,363 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 539,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,779,000 after buying an additional 40,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 458,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,217,000 after purchasing an additional 11,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.11% of the company’s stock.

Chesapeake Utilities Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:CPK opened at $102.51 on Friday. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a 52 week low of $83.79 and a 52 week high of $132.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $103.55 and a 200 day moving average of $99.74. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67 and a beta of 0.60.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $234.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.47 earnings per share. Chesapeake Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Utilities Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.