14,270 Shares in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) Bought by Norges Bank

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 14,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,732,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 317,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,559,000 after purchasing an additional 29,759 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,934,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $234,761,000 after buying an additional 44,692 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 13,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,665,000 after buying an additional 1,382 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Chesapeake Utilities during the fourth quarter valued at $1,036,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 51,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,193,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. 83.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Chesapeake Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Chesapeake Utilities to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.67.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of CPK opened at $131.23 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $126.20 and its 200 day moving average is $124.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a 12-month low of $98.32 and a 12-month high of $134.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.62 and a beta of 0.66.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.04). Chesapeake Utilities had a net margin of 14.16% and a return on equity of 9.08%. The company had revenue of $215.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $237.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. Research analysts expect that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Utilities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.64 dividend. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Chesapeake Utilities’s payout ratio is currently 48.58%.

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.