13,307 Shares in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Bought by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 13,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $700,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in Unitil by 133.8% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $131,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $237,000. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Unitil Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:UTL opened at $50.49 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $50.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.73. Unitil Co. has a 52 week low of $41.43 and a 52 week high of $59.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $815.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90 and a beta of 0.58.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Unitil had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 9.32%. The firm had revenue of $129.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. This is a boost from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.28%.

Unitil Profile

Unitil Corporation, a public utility holding company, engages in the distribution of electricity and natural gas. It operates through two segments, Utility Electric Operations, Utility Gas Operations. The company distributes electricity in the southeastern seacoast and state capital regions of New Hampshire, and the greater Fitchburg area of north central Massachusetts; and distributes natural gas in southeastern New Hampshire and portions of southern and central Maine, including the city of Portland and the Lewiston-Auburn area, as well as electricity and natural gas in the greater Fitchburg area of north central Massachusetts.