Unitil Corporation $UTL Shares Acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 608,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,894 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 3.39% of Unitil worth $29,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UTL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Unitil by 4.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,471,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,411,000 after buying an additional 68,820 shares in the last quarter. Aventail Capital Group LP acquired a new position in shares of Unitil in the third quarter worth about $3,031,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Unitil by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 2,120 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Unitil by 195.9% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 43,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after acquiring an additional 28,973 shares during the period. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Unitil by 38.9% during the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 360,894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,821,000 after acquiring an additional 101,114 shares during the period. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on UTL shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Unitil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Unitil in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Unitil Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of UTL opened at $50.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.56. Unitil Corporation has a one year low of $44.61 and a one year high of $59.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $908.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.29.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.10. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 9.37%.The company had revenue of $161.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.45 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Unitil Corporation will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 12th were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. This is a positive change from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 12th. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.33%.

About Unitil

Unitil Corporation (NYSE: UTL) is a publicly traded energy delivery company that provides regulated electric and natural gas distribution services. The company delivers energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers through a network of distribution systems, offering safe and reliable service across its service areas. Unitil’s operations include system maintenance, emergency response, meter reading and customer support functions, all governed by state regulatory commissions.

Headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire, Unitil serves communities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.