Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 10,500 Chesapeake Utilities Corporation $CPK

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE:CPK) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,327,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CPK. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,020,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $252,033,000 after acquiring an additional 49,789 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 0.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,257,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $152,023,000 after purchasing an additional 9,556 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 27.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 952,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $128,231,000 after purchasing an additional 205,742 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 3.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 590,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,574,000 after purchasing an additional 16,993 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Chesapeake Utilities by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 554,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,217,000 after purchasing an additional 6,808 shares during the period. 83.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CPK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays set a $142.00 price target on Chesapeake Utilities and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Chesapeake Utilities in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $132.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings cut Chesapeake Utilities from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Chesapeake Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Chesapeake Utilities currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.00.

Chesapeake Utilities Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:CPK opened at $125.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05 and a beta of 0.69. Chesapeake Utilities Corporation has a 1-year low of $118.83 and a 1-year high of $140.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $124.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.97.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.09. Chesapeake Utilities had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 15.11%.The company had revenue of $353.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $339.86 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. Chesapeake Utilities has set its FY 2028 guidance at 7.750-8.00 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Utilities Corporation will post 6.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Utilities Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.735 dividend. This represents a $2.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from Chesapeake Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Chesapeake Utilities’s payout ratio is presently 47.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kevin J. Webber sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.37, for a total transaction of $254,740.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,611,485.24. The trade was a 13.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffry M. Householder sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.12, for a total value of $1,261,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 63,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,945,686.12. This trade represents a 13.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Chesapeake Utilities Company Profile

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE: CPK) is a diversified energy services holding company headquartered in Dover, Delaware. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company engages in natural gas distribution, transmission and storage; propane distribution; wholesale propane supply; and contract compression and natural gas liquids processing. Its core mission is to provide safe, reliable and cost-effective energy solutions to residential, commercial and industrial customers across multiple U.S.