Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Unitil in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Unitil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Unitil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UTL opened at $47.84 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $48.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.59. Unitil has a 52-week low of $44.61 and a 52-week high of $59.99. The company has a market cap of $857.27 million, a PE ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.06. Unitil had a net margin of 9.32% and a return on equity of 9.04%. The company had revenue of $101.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $100.40 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Unitil will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Unitil

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Unitil by 4.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,471,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,411,000 after acquiring an additional 68,820 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Unitil by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 717,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,414,000 after purchasing an additional 108,254 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Unitil by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 609,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,143,000 after purchasing an additional 48,225 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Unitil by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 608,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,103,000 after purchasing an additional 14,894 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in Unitil by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 413,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,797,000 after purchasing an additional 39,511 shares during the period. 76.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Unitil Company Profile

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.