DC Investments Management LLC Takes $247,000 Position in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

DC Investments Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Unitil by 139.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 32,834 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,989,000 after buying an additional 19,134 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 8,333.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,024 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Unitil by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 31,181 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,690,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Unitil by 183.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 7,875 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $414,000 after acquiring an additional 5,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,082,000. 76.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Unitil in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Unitil Stock Performance

Shares of Unitil stock traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $54.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 27,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 62,187. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $57.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.46. The stock has a market cap of $883.08 million, a P/E ratio of 18.55 and a beta of 0.67. Unitil Co. has a one year low of $48.94 and a one year high of $63.52.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by ($0.04). Unitil had a return on equity of 9.36% and a net margin of 9.52%. The company had revenue of $207.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.03 million. As a group, analysts expect that Unitil Co. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Unitil's dividend payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

About Unitil

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.