Unitil Co. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.43 (NYSE:UTL)

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 1st, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.425 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th.

Unitil has raised its dividend by an average of 2.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 10 years. Unitil has a dividend payout ratio of 54.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Unitil to earn $3.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.2%.

Unitil Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:UTL traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $52.09. The stock had a trading volume of 18,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 51,066. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.92. The company has a market capitalization of $841.77 million, a PE ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 0.58. Unitil has a twelve month low of $41.43 and a twelve month high of $58.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 8.11%. The firm had revenue of $129.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Unitil will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

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.