Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Unitil in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.00.

Unitil Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UTL opened at $47.97 on Friday. Unitil has a 12 month low of $44.61 and a 12 month high of $61.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $859.45 million, a P/E ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 0.62. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $47.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.45.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.06. Unitil had a net margin of 9.54% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The company had revenue of $101.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $100.40 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Unitil will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 100.0% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. CWM LLC raised its position in Unitil by 45.8% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Unitil by 46.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil in the 1st quarter worth $99,000. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.