What is Huntington's Estimate for Unitil FY2026 Earnings?

Key Points

• Huntington forecasts Unitil will earn $3.28 per share in FY2026, slightly below the current consensus estimate of $3.31, and rates the stock “Strong Buy.”
• Huntington projects EPS of $3.47 in FY2027 and $3.70 in FY2028. Unitil’s latest quarterly EPS of -$0.04 beat the consensus loss estimate of -$0.06, though revenue came in below expectations.
• Overall analyst sentiment is more cautious: Unitil has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $58.67; it also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.475 per share.

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL - Free Report) - Huntington issued their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for Unitil in a research report issued on Wednesday, November 4th. Huntington analyst M. Gaugler forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings of $3.28 per share for the year. Huntington has a "Strong-Buy" rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Unitil's current full-year earnings is $3.31 per share. Huntington also issued estimates for Unitil's Q4 2026 earnings at $1.15 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $1.74 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $0.30 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $0.10 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $1.34 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $3.47 EPS, Q1 2028 earnings at $1.87 EPS, Q2 2028 earnings at $0.30 EPS, Q3 2028 earnings at $0.13 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $3.70 EPS.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. Unitil had a net margin of 9.16% and a return on equity of 9.19%. The company had revenue of $112.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $113.11 million.

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

Unitil Trading Up 0.2%

UTL stock opened at $56.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.54. Unitil has a 1-year low of $46.91 and a 1-year high of $58.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.22 and a beta of 0.27.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unitil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UTL. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 13.6% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 34,997 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,776,000 after buying an additional 4,190 shares during the period. Simplex Trading LLC grew its stake in Unitil by 144.3% in the 3rd quarter. Simplex Trading LLC now owns 733 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in Unitil by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,556 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Unitil by 35.4% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 181,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,229,000 after acquiring an additional 47,499 shares during the period. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. increased its position in shares of Unitil by 37.8% during the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 6,991 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.76% of the company's stock.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a $0.4750 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. Unitil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.94%.

About Unitil

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.