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

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a new position in Chesapeake Utilities, buying 10,500 shares in the first quarter worth about $1.33 million.
• Chesapeake Utilities reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.47 versus $2.38 expected and revenue up 18.2% year over year to $353.1 million.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.735 per share, boosting the annualized payout to $2.94 and the yield to about 2.3%.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE:CPK - Free Report) 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 - Get Free Report) 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.