Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Purchases 15,716 Shares of Unitil Corporation $UTL

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) by 51.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,999 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,716 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Unitil were worth $2,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 1.7% during the second quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 12,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 2.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 45.8% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Unitil by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 4,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Unitil by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on UTL. Wall Street Zen downgraded Unitil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Unitil in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Unitil presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Unitil Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE UTL opened at $53.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $50.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.84. Unitil Corporation has a one year low of $44.61 and a one year high of $59.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $953.84 million, a P/E ratio of 17.68 and a beta of 0.48.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $161.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.45 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.37% and a return on equity of 9.38%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Unitil Corporation will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 12th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 12th. Unitil’s payout ratio is currently 63.33%.

Unitil Profile

Unitil Corporation (NYSE: UTL) is a publicly traded energy delivery company that provides regulated electric and natural gas distribution services. The company delivers energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers through a network of distribution systems, offering safe and reliable service across its service areas. Unitil’s operations include system maintenance, emergency response, meter reading and customer support functions, all governed by state regulatory commissions.

Headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire, Unitil serves communities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.