Unitil (UTL) & The Competition Critical Comparison

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) is one of 52 public companies in the “Multi – Utilities” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Unitil to similar businesses based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

76.8% of Unitil shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.6% of shares of all “Multi – Utilities” companies are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Unitil shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.1% of shares of all “Multi – Utilities” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Unitil and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unitil	$596.50 million	N/A	17.36
Unitil Competitors	$18.26 billion	-$1.26 billion	27.27

Unitil’s competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Unitil. Unitil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk & Volatility

Unitil has a beta of 0.26, meaning that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unitil’s competitors have a beta of 0.75, meaning that their average share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Unitil and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unitil	0	5	1	0	2.17
Unitil Competitors	1049	4099	4420	86	2.37

Unitil currently has a consensus target price of $58.67, suggesting a potential upside of 6.61%. As a group, “Multi – Utilities” companies have a potential upside of 31.92%. Given Unitil’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Unitil has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Dividends

Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Unitil pays out 59.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Multi – Utilities” companies pay a dividend yield of 10.3% and pay out 32.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Unitil has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Unitil lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Unitil and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unitil	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unitil Competitors	5.92%	23.09%	6.14%

Summary

Unitil competitors beat Unitil on 13 of the 14 factors compared.

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. It also operates 86 miles of interstate underground natural gas transmission pipeline that provides interstate natural gas pipeline access and transportation services primarily in Maine and New Hampshire. In addition, the company provides real estate management services. It serves approximately 108,100 electric customers and 87,500 natural gas customers. Unitil Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire.