Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $57.95 and last traded at $57.9650, with a volume of 7,243 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $56.54.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Unitil from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Huntington began coverage on Unitil in a report on Wednesday. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.67.

Unitil Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.27 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $53.08 and a 200-day moving average of $52.51.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $112.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.11 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 9.16%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Unitil Corporation will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a $0.4750 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Unitil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UTL. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 196.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Simplex Trading LLC raised its stake in Unitil by 144.3% in the third quarter. Simplex Trading LLC now owns 733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of Unitil during the 2nd quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Unitil by 502.6% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

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.