Everence Capital Management Inc. Invests $525,000 in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 4,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 438,569 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 51,208 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted 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 acquiring an additional 9,363 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 40,037 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 458,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,217,000 after acquiring an additional 11,909 shares during the period. 83.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Chesapeake Utilities Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE CPK opened at $100.75 on Thursday. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.79 and a fifty-two week high of $132.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Chesapeake Utilities Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.