Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $47.05 and last traded at $48.21, with a volume of 15402 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $49.12.

Unitil Trading Down 2.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.53. The stock has a market cap of $781.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 0.66.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 9.54%. The company had revenue of $101.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.00 million. Equities analysts forecast that Unitil Corporation will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.86%.

Institutional Trading of Unitil

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Unitil in the 1st quarter valued at about $7,457,000. CSM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Unitil during the second quarter worth approximately $6,644,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Unitil by 17.8% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 717,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,414,000 after purchasing an additional 108,254 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 38.9% during the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 360,894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,821,000 after purchasing an additional 101,114 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 6.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,365,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,763,000 after purchasing an additional 82,137 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Unitil Company 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.