Unitil Corporation $UTL Shares Purchased by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 181,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 47,499 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Unitil were worth $9,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in UTL. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its position in Unitil by 37.8% in the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 6,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in Unitil in the third quarter valued at $257,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in Unitil by 12.4% during the third quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 5,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in Unitil by 360.0% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 59,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,010,000 after purchasing an additional 46,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Unitil during the third quarter valued at about $989,000. 76.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Unitil Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE UTL opened at $54.92 on Wednesday. Unitil Corporation has a one year low of $46.91 and a one year high of $57.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.66 and a beta of 0.27.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $112.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.11 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.16% and a return on equity of 9.23%. As a group, analysts expect that Unitil Corporation will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.4750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on UTL shares. Huntington assumed coverage on Unitil in a research note on Monday, September 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $63.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Unitil from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Unitil has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.67.

Trending Headlines about Unitil

Here are the key news stories impacting Unitil this week:

• Positive Sentiment: One earnings report said Unitil’s quarterly loss was $0.04 per share, $0.02 better than analysts’ consensus estimate of a $0.06 loss. MarketBeat earnings report
• Neutral Sentiment: Brokerage data cited an average price target of $58.67, above the stock’s recent trading level, though the provided report does not identify a new rating or target change. Average analyst price target
• Negative Sentiment: Unitil’s release reported a Q3 net loss of $1.5 million, or $0.08 per share—$1.2 million and $0.06 per share worse than a year earlier. Revenue was also below the $113.1 million consensus estimate: coverage cited figures ranging from $109.5 million to $112.6 million. The variation in reported EPS and revenue figures makes the comparison across reports less clear, but the company’s year-over-year loss deterioration and revenue miss are potential headwinds. Unitil Q3 earnings release Revenue estimate comparison

Unitil Profile

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.