Unitil (UTL) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It also operates 86 miles of interstate underground natural gas transmission pipeline that provides interstate natural gas pipeline access and transportation services primarily in Maine and New Hampshire. In addition, the company provides real estate management services. It serves approximately 108,100 electric customers and 87,500 natural gas customers. Unitil Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $57.97 to $59.44
• 50-Day Range: $54.54 to $59.47
• 52-Week Range: $48.94 to $63.52
• Volume: 49,186 shs
• Average Volume: 61,860 shs
• Market Capitalization: $962.25 million
• P/E Ratio: 20.22
• Dividend Yield: 3.04%
• Price Target: $55.00
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Unitil Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Unitil scored higher than 58% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 68th out of 93 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.0 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Unitil has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.00, and is based on no buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Unitil has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 7.14%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Unitil are expected to grow by 7.14% in the coming year, from $3.08 to $3.30 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Unitil is 20.22, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 21.96.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Unitil is 20.22, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 15.70.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Unitil has a P/B Ratio of 1.88. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.92% of the float of Unitil has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Unitil has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.3, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Unitil has recently decreased by 5.10%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Unitil pays a meaningful dividend of 3.05%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Unitil has been increasing its dividend for 12 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Unitil is 61.43%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Unitil will have a dividend payout ratio of 54.55% next year. This indicates that Unitil will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.92% of the float of Unitil has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Unitil has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.3, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Unitil has recently decreased by 5.10%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.7 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.94

News Sentiment

Unitil has a news sentiment score of 0.94. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.79 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 10 news articles for Unitil this week, compared to 2 articles on an average week.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Unitil insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 2.03% of the stock of Unitil is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

76.76% of the stock of Unitil is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

UTL Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have UTL shares performed this year?

Unitil's stock was trading at $54.19 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, UTL shares have increased by 9.3% and is now trading at $59.23.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Unitil's earnings last quarter?

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) announced its earnings results on Monday, November, 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.01. The utilities provider earned $92.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $116 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.52% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 9.36%.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are Unitil's major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Unitil include Boston Trust Walden Corp (2.36%), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (1.21%), Foundry Partners LLC (0.71%) and Principal Financial Group Inc. (0.53%).
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Unitil?

Shares of UTL stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Unitil own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Unitil investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Meta Platforms (META), Visa (V), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Home Depot (HD).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 11/04/2024
• Record date for 2/28 Dividend: 2/13/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 2/28 Dividend: 2/13/2025
• Dividend Payable: 2/28/2025
• Today: 5/05/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 5/06/2025
• Record date for 5/30 Dividend: 5/15/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 5/30 Dividend: 5/15/2025
• Dividend Payable: 5/30/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: Electric & other services combined
• Sub-Industry: Electric Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:UTL
• CIK: 755001
• Web: www.unitil.com
• Phone: (603) 772-0775
• Fax: 603-773-6605
• Employees: 520
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $55.00
• High Stock Price Target: $55.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $55.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -7.1%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.00
• Research Coverage: 1 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $2.93
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 20.15
• Forward P/E Ratio: 19.23
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $47.10 million
• Net Margins: 9.52%
• Pretax Margin: 12.35%
• Return on Equity: 9.36%
• Return on Assets: 2.75%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.25
• Current Ratio: 0.83
• Quick Ratio: 0.76

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $494.80 million
• Price / Sales: 1.94
• Cash Flow: $7.99 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 7.41
• Book Value: $31.53 per share
• Price / Book: 1.88

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 16,246,000
• Free Float: 15,944,000
• Market Cap: $962.01 million
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.58