Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 119,300 shares, a drop of 32.9% from the March 15th total of 177,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 52,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unitil

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UTL. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Unitil by 158.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 84,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,602,000 after purchasing an additional 51,655 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Unitil by 12.6% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 404,481 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $17,275,000 after acquiring an additional 45,213 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Unitil by 1.1% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 35,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of Unitil by 2,011.2% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,276 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Unitil by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 27,129 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.76% of the company's stock.

Unitil Stock Performance

NYSE UTL traded down $0.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 32,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 51,712. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $790.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.34 and a beta of 0.58. Unitil has a twelve month low of $41.43 and a twelve month high of $59.42. The business's fifty day moving average price is $50.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.35.

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

Unitil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is an increase from Unitil's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Unitil's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.28%.

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.

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