PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK – Free Report) by 15.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,979 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Chesapeake Utilities worth $1,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 438,569 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,414,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,181,000 after buying an additional 51,208 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 668,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,960,000 after buying an additional 9,363 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 539,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,779,000 after buying an additional 40,037 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 458,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,217,000 after buying an additional 11,909 shares during the period. 74.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
CPK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $111.00 to $123.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.75.
Read Our Latest Report on Chesapeake Utilities
Chesapeake Utilities Stock Performance
NYSE CPK opened at $99.92 on Friday. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a 1 year low of $83.79 and a 1 year high of $132.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.34.
Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $185.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $234.60 million. Chesapeake Utilities had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 11.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. Analysts predict that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Chesapeake Utilities Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Chesapeake Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 49.89%.
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.
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Source: americanbankingnews.com
