First Horizon Advisors Inc. Sells 329 Shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 45.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 329 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Chesapeake Utilities were worth $47,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 342.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 37,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,600,000 after purchasing an additional 28,673 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 31.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 61,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,644,000 after purchasing an additional 14,607 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 5.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 287,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,760,000 after purchasing an additional 14,430 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 495,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,090,000 after purchasing an additional 12,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,222,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $152,513,000 after acquiring an additional 11,068 shares in the last quarter. 83.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CPK. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $118.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

Chesapeake Utilities Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Chesapeake Utilities stock opened at $126.92 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $122.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.26. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.75 and a beta of 0.65. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a fifty-two week low of $98.32 and a fifty-two week high of $134.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.38.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $215.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $237.84 million. Chesapeake Utilities had a return on equity of 9.08% and a net margin of 14.16%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Chesapeake Utilities Co. will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chesapeake Utilities Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.93%.

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.