Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Stock Rated “Strong-Buy” in New Coverage at Huntington

Stock analysts at Huntington initiated coverage on shares of Unitil (NYSE:UTL) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports. The firm set a “strong-buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Unitil from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.67.

Unitil Trading Up 3.1%

NYSE UTL opened at $56.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. Unitil has a one year low of $46.91 and a one year high of $57.26. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.51.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. Unitil had a net margin of 9.16% and a return on equity of 9.19%. The company had revenue of $112.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.11 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Unitil will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in Unitil during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Unitil by 196.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Simplex Trading LLC increased its position in shares of Unitil by 144.3% during the third quarter. Simplex Trading LLC now owns 733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Unitil during the second quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Unitil by 502.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337 shares in the last quarter. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Unitil

Unitil Corporation is a regulated public utility holding company that delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Its operations focus primarily on the distribution of energy through local utility networks rather than the production of electricity or natural gas.

Through its operating subsidiaries, Unitil provides electric distribution service in portions of New Hampshire and Massachusetts and natural gas distribution service in parts of southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts.