Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Unitil Corporation $UTL

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) by 25.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 21,899 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.39% of Unitil worth $3,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 82,137 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Unitil by 8.6% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 609,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,143,000 after buying an additional 48,225 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Unitil during the first quarter worth $7,457,000. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Unitil by 23.7% during the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 115,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,685,000 after buying an additional 22,220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Unitil by 3.0% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 86,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,006,000 after buying an additional 2,505 shares in the last quarter. 76.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Unitil Stock Performance

NYSE:UTL opened at $45.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $48.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $810.93 million, a PE ratio of 15.75 and a beta of 0.68. Unitil Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $44.61 and a fifty-two week high of $62.73.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $101.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.00 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.54% and a return on equity of 9.46%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Unitil Corporation will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.86%.

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.