Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Stock Rated Strong-Buy in New Coverage at Huntington

Key Points

• Huntington initiated coverage of Unitil with a Strong Buy rating, while Weiss Ratings lowered its assessment slightly to Hold. Overall, analyst consensus remains Hold, with an average price target of $58.67.
• Unitil shares rose 3.1% and opened at $56.54. The company’s quarterly loss per share was narrower than analysts expected, though revenue fell short of estimates.
• Institutional investors own 76.76% of Unitil’s stock, and several funds increased their positions during the third quarter.

Stock analysts at Huntington assumed coverage on shares of Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Wednesday, Zacks reports. The firm set a "strong-buy" rating on the utilities provider's stock.

Separately, Weiss Ratings downgraded Unitil from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $58.67.

Unitil Trading Up 3.1%

Shares of Unitil stock opened at $56.54 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Unitil has a 1 year low of $46.91 and a 1 year high of $57.26. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 0.27. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $53.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.51.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $112.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.11 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 9.16%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Unitil will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Unitil

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UTL. Simplex Trading LLC increased its position in Unitil by 144.3% during the third quarter. Simplex Trading LLC now owns 733 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in Unitil by 13.4% during the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,556 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 181,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,229,000 after purchasing an additional 47,499 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 6,991 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments acquired a new position in shares of Unitil in the 3rd quarter valued at $257,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.76% of the company's stock.

Unitil Company Profile

Unitil Corporation is a regulated public utility holding company that delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Its operations focus primarily on the distribution of energy through local utility networks rather than the production of electricity or natural gas.

Through its operating subsidiaries, Unitil provides electric distribution service in portions of New Hampshire and Massachusetts and natural gas distribution service in parts of southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts.

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