Chesapeake Utilities Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.64 (NYSE:CPK)

Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.64 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, April 7th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Chesapeake Utilities has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Chesapeake Utilities has a payout ratio of 37.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Chesapeake Utilities to earn $6.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.0%.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Up 0.3 %

CPK opened at $126.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.75 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $122.26. Chesapeake Utilities has a twelve month low of $98.32 and a twelve month high of $134.20.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $215.00 million for 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.64 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Utilities will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $118.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chesapeake Utilities presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.00.

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.