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

Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 8th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.64 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, July 5th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This is an increase from Chesapeake Utilities’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59.

Chesapeake Utilities has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Chesapeake Utilities has a payout ratio of 37.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Chesapeake Utilities to earn $6.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.7%.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE CPK opened at $111.26 on Friday. Chesapeake Utilities has a 1 year low of $83.79 and a 1 year high of $132.91. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.14 by ($0.04). Chesapeake Utilities had a return on equity of 10.19% and a net margin of 13.01%. The business had revenue of $245.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $260.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Chesapeake Utilities will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Chesapeake Utilities from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Chesapeake Utilities from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Chesapeake Utilities has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.