Arizona State Retirement System Takes Position in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 158.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 84,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,602,000 after buying an additional 51,655 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 404,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,275,000 after buying an additional 45,213 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 29,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,526,000 after buying an additional 3,933 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 35,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 2,011.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 7,884 shares during the period. 76.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Unitil Price Performance

NYSE UTL opened at $50.19 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $811.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80 and a beta of 0.58. Unitil Co. has a 1-year low of $41.43 and a 1-year high of $59.28. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.64.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $129.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.00 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 8.11%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Increases Dividend

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

Unitil 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.