Wall Street Zen Upgrades Unitil (NYSE:UTL) to “Buy”

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Unitil in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Unitil Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:UTL opened at $47.97 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $47.56 and its 200 day moving average is $50.33. Unitil has a 12-month low of $44.61 and a 12-month high of $61.42. The stock has a market cap of $859.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $101.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $100.40 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 9.54%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Unitil will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unitil

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC increased its position in Unitil by 23.7% in the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 115,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,685,000 after purchasing an additional 22,220 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Unitil in the 1st quarter valued at about $306,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Unitil during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Wakefield Asset Management LLLP boosted its stake in shares of Unitil by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 17,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares during the period. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.