Creative Planning Boosts Stock Holdings in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Chesapeake Utilities were worth $957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,859,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,471,000 after acquiring an additional 118,878 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 76.1% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 274,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,142,000 after purchasing an additional 118,561 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 61.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 275,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,529,000 after purchasing an additional 104,850 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 28.4% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 428,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,014,000 after acquiring an additional 94,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 170.5% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 124,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,245,000 after acquiring an additional 78,613 shares in the last quarter. 83.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barclays upped their target price on Chesapeake Utilities from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th.

Insider Transactions at Chesapeake Utilities

In other news, Director Paul L. Maddock, Jr. sold 9,634 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $1,094,037.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $949,702.28. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.68% of the company’s stock.

Chesapeake Utilities Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:CPK opened at $117.44 on Friday. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a one year low of $83.79 and a one year high of $125.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $120.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.09 and a beta of 0.61.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $166.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.70 million. Chesapeake Utilities had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 13.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Utilities Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.64 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.70%.

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.