Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Buys 669 Shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) by 7.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.06% of Unitil worth $539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Unitil by 1.2% in the first quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 25,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 1.9% during the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 19,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $954,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Unitil by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Unitil by 5.0% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 12,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $633,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Unitil by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 12,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 1,314 shares in the last quarter. 76.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Unitil Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:UTL opened at $58.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.31. Unitil Co. has a one year low of $41.43 and a one year high of $62.53. The firm has a market cap of $942.39 million, a P/E ratio of 19.43 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.58.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 9.53%. The company had revenue of $95.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.67%.

About Unitil

Unitil Corporation, a public utility holding company, engages in the distribution of electricity and natural gas. It operates through two segments, Utility Electric Operations, Utility Gas Operations. The company distributes electricity in the southeastern seacoast and state capital regions of New Hampshire, and the greater Fitchburg area of north central Massachusetts; and distributes natural gas in southeastern New Hampshire and portions of southern and central Maine, including the city of Portland and the Lewiston-Auburn area, as well as electricity and natural gas in the greater Fitchburg area of north central Massachusetts.