Aventail Capital Group LP Acquires Shares of 63,332 Unitil Corporation $UTL

Aventail Capital Group LP bought a new position in Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 63,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,031,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Unitil by 1.7% during the second quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 12,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $642,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Unitil by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in Unitil by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 4,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Unitil by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Unitil by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 3,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 76.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UTL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Unitil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Unitil in a report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Unitil Stock Performance

UTL stock opened at $53.09 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.09. Unitil Corporation has a 52 week low of $44.61 and a 52 week high of $59.99. The stock has a market cap of $954.61 million, a P/E ratio of 17.70 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.56.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.10. Unitil had a net margin of 9.37% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The firm had revenue of $161.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.45 million. Research analysts anticipate that Unitil Corporation will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 12th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 12th. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.33%.

Unitil Company Profile

Unitil Corporation (NYSE: UTL) is a publicly traded energy delivery company that provides regulated electric and natural gas distribution services. The company delivers energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers through a network of distribution systems, offering safe and reliable service across its service areas. Unitil’s operations include system maintenance, emergency response, meter reading and customer support functions, all governed by state regulatory commissions.

Headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire, Unitil serves communities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.