Cynosure Group LLC Trims Stake in Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK)

Cynosure Group LLC cut its position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities Co. (NYSE:CPK) by 15.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 556 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Chesapeake Utilities were worth $367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 33.7% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 57,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,071,000 after acquiring an additional 14,417 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 76.1% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 274,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,142,000 after purchasing an additional 118,561 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 6.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,859,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,471,000 after purchasing an additional 118,878 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Chesapeake Utilities by 4.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 489,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,979,000 after purchasing an additional 19,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Chesapeake Utilities by 11.5% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 53,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,596,000 after buying an additional 5,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on CPK. StockNews.com raised Chesapeake Utilities from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on Chesapeake Utilities from $118.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Guggenheim increased 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $123.00.

Chesapeake Utilities Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of CPK stock opened at $131.78 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $123.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.55. Chesapeake Utilities Co. has a 1-year low of $91.17 and a 1-year high of $134.20. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.73 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Chesapeake Utilities Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.64 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Chesapeake Utilities’s payout ratio is 51.93%.

About Chesapeake Utilities

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.