Unitil Corporation $UTL Stake Trimmed by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,322 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.31% of Unitil worth $2,907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of UTL. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Unitil by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 77,382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,193,000 after acquiring an additional 6,117 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Unitil by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 30,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,647,000 after purchasing an additional 4,618 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $485,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Unitil by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Unitil by 1,011.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 52,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,854,000 after acquiring an additional 47,921 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Unitil Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of UTL opened at $46.38 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Unitil Corporation has a 12-month low of $44.61 and a 12-month high of $63.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $820.46 million, a PE ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.16.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $101.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.00 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Unitil Corporation will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio is 61.86%.

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.