5,600 Shares in Unitil Corporation $UTL Bought by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 82,137 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Unitil by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 609,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,143,000 after purchasing an additional 48,225 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Unitil by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 385,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,116,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Unitil by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 197,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,301,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Unitil in the 1st quarter valued at $7,457,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on UTL shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Unitil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Unitil in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Unitil currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Unitil Trading Up 1.0%

UTL opened at $47.97 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $47.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.39. Unitil Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.61 and a 1-year high of $61.42. The company has a market cap of $859.45 million, a P/E ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $101.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $100.40 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.54% and a return on equity of 9.46%. Analysts predict that Unitil Corporation will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.28%.

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.