Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) Issues Earnings Results

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.14 by ($0.04), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $245.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $260.16 million. Chesapeake Utilities had a net margin of 13.01% and a return on equity of 10.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.04 earnings per share.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CPK traded down $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $111.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 127,555. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.48. Chesapeake Utilities has a fifty-two week low of $83.79 and a fifty-two week high of $132.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $104.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.29. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52 and a beta of 0.60.

Chesapeake Utilities Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 5th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.64 dividend. This is a boost from Chesapeake Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Chesapeake Utilities’s payout ratio is 49.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CPK shares. StockNews.com downgraded Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Chesapeake Utilities from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.00.

Chesapeake Utilities Company 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.