Legato Capital Management LLC Takes $1.83 Million Position in Chesapeake Utilities Corporation $CPK

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE:CPK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 14,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,834,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,020,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $252,033,000 after buying an additional 49,789 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Chesapeake Utilities by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,257,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $152,023,000 after buying an additional 9,556 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 27.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 952,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $128,231,000 after purchasing an additional 205,742 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 3.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 590,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,574,000 after purchasing an additional 16,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 831.0% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 511,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,884,000 after purchasing an additional 456,497 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Chesapeake Utilities

In related news, SVP Kevin J. Webber sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.37, for a total value of $254,740.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 12,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,611,485.24. The trade was a 13.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CPK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Chesapeake Utilities in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $132.00 price objective for the company. Barclays set a $142.00 target price on shares of Chesapeake Utilities and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Chesapeake Utilities presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $137.00.

Chesapeake Utilities Price Performance

Shares of CPK opened at $126.50 on Friday. Chesapeake Utilities Corporation has a 12-month low of $117.64 and a 12-month high of $140.59. The business’s fifty day moving average is $127.22 and its 200 day moving average is $129.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.27 and a beta of 0.71.

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

Chesapeake Utilities Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 6th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.735 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $2.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Chesapeake Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Chesapeake Utilities’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.91%.

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.