Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Announces $0.43 Quarterly Dividend

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 1st, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.425 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th.

Unitil has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 10 years. Unitil has a payout ratio of 54.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Unitil to earn $3.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.2%.

Unitil Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Unitil stock traded up $0.25 on Friday, hitting $52.63. 35,984 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 51,287. Unitil has a 12-month low of $41.43 and a 12-month high of $58.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $850.50 million, a PE ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $50.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.92.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 8.11%. The company had revenue of $129.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.00 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Unitil will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

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.