State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Raises Position in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 20.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,638 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.15% of Chesapeake Utilities worth $2,864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities in the fourth quarter worth about $1,060,000. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 81,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,577,000 after acquiring an additional 37,000 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities in the fourth quarter worth about $35,265,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities in the fourth quarter worth about $1,078,000. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 122,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,921,000 after acquiring an additional 12,764 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Chesapeake Utilities from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Chesapeake Utilities from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.00.

Chesapeake Utilities Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE CPK opened at $105.13 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $103.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.36. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a 52-week low of $83.79 and a 52-week high of $132.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.23 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.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $185.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $234.60 million. Chesapeake Utilities had a return on equity of 10.19% and a net margin of 13.01%. Chesapeake Utilities’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Utilities Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.89%.

Chesapeake Utilities 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.