Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.50.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on UTL. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Unitil in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded Unitil to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Unitil in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Freedom Capital cut Unitil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Unitil in a report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company.

Unitil Price Performance

Shares of Unitil stock opened at $55.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $999.70 million, a P/E ratio of 17.59 and a beta of 0.31. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.86. Unitil has a twelve month low of $44.61 and a twelve month high of $56.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $216.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.13 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 9.89%. As a group, research analysts expect that Unitil will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 14th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unitil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTL. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Unitil by 87.1% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 51,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,731,000 after buying an additional 24,131 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Unitil by 502.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 1,337 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 28.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 99,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,202,000 after acquiring an additional 22,032 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 91.5% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,160,000 after acquiring an additional 19,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 490,041 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,600,000 after acquiring an additional 93,101 shares in the last quarter. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.