Unitil Corporation (UTL) To Go Ex-Dividend on August 17th

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 28th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of 0.475 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, August 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th.

Unitil has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Unitil has a payout ratio of 57.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Unitil to earn $3.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.1%.

Unitil Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of UTL opened at $55.08 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $52.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.02. The stock has a market cap of $990.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43 and a beta of 0.31. Unitil has a 12 month low of $44.61 and a 12 month high of $57.26.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.89% and a net margin of 9.60%.The company had revenue of $216.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.13 million. Equities analysts predict that Unitil will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Unitil

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in Unitil by 87.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 51,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,731,000 after purchasing an additional 24,131 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Unitil by 502.6% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Unitil by 28.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 99,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,202,000 after purchasing an additional 22,032 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Unitil by 91.5% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,160,000 after purchasing an additional 19,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Unitil by 23.5% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 490,041 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,600,000 after purchasing an additional 93,101 shares during the last quarter. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Unitil

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.