Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.64 Per Share

Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 9th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of 0.64 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This is a positive change from Chesapeake Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59.

Chesapeake Utilities has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 20 consecutive years. Chesapeake Utilities has a dividend payout ratio of 37.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Chesapeake Utilities to earn $6.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.7%.

Chesapeake Utilities Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CPK opened at $111.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Chesapeake Utilities has a 1-year low of $83.79 and a 1-year high of $132.91. The business’s 50 day moving average is $104.94 and its 200-day moving average is $101.29.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $245.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $260.16 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 up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.04 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Chesapeake Utilities will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have 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 stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com lowered Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Chesapeake Utilities from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, Chesapeake Utilities currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.00.

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.