Chesapeake Utilities Co. (CPK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.64 on April 7th

Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.64 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, April 7th. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

Chesapeake Utilities has raised its dividend 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. 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 Down 0.1 %

CPK stock opened at $128.70 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a PE ratio of 26.10 and a beta of 0.60. Chesapeake Utilities has a 1 year low of $98.32 and a 1 year high of $134.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.11.

Chesapeake Utilities (NYSE:CPK) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Utilities will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CPK shares. Guggenheim lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Chesapeake Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th.

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.