Ameriprise Financial Inc. Trims Stake in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL - Free Report) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 57,061 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 5,234 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.35% of Unitil worth $3,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of UTL. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Unitil by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 560,944 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $30,398,000 after buying an additional 49,130 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 382,883 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $20,754,000 after buying an additional 1,225 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 203,475 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,026,000 after buying an additional 2,130 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 186,079 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $10,084,000 after buying an additional 19,631 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Unitil by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 117,280 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,355,000 after purchasing an additional 6,335 shares during the period. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Unitil Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of UTL stock traded up $0.58 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $54.80. The company had a trading volume of 83,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 62,978. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.04. Unitil Co. has a 12 month low of $48.94 and a 12 month high of $63.52. The company has a market cap of $890.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Unitil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.43%.

Unitil Profile

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.