Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 550 Shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 550 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Unitil were worth $90,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in UTL. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 36.9% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 18,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 4,981 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 270,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,480,000 after purchasing an additional 3,948 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 12,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Unitil during the 1st quarter worth $233,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Unitil by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 13,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481 shares during the period. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Unitil Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Unitil stock opened at $50.19 on Friday. Unitil Co. has a 52-week low of $41.43 and a 52-week high of $59.28. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $811.07 million, a P/E ratio of 17.80 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 8.11%. The business had revenue of $129.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 14th were paid a $0.425 dividend. This is a boost from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. Unitil’s payout ratio is currently 60.28%.

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.