Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Stock Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - What's Next?

Key Points

• Unitil shares crossed above their 200-day moving average, trading as high as $54.21 and last changing hands near $53.36. The stock was up 0.3% with relatively low trading volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: one analyst rates Unitil a Buy and five rate it Hold, producing a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $58.67. Huntington initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a $63 target, while Weiss Ratings downgraded the stock to Hold.
• Unitil exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.29 in earnings per share versus the $0.26 consensus and revenue of $117 million. The company maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.475, equivalent to a 3.6% annualized yield.

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $52.61 and traded as high as $54.21. Unitil shares last traded at $53.3570, with a volume of 96,523 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on UTL shares. Huntington started coverage on shares of Unitil in a report on Monday, September 14th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $63.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Unitil from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $58.67.

Unitil Stock Up 0.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $973.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83 and a beta of 0.26. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $52.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.61.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.03. Unitil had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 9.53%. The company had revenue of $117.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $113.19 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Unitil Corporation will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.4750 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. Unitil's payout ratio is currently 59.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unitil

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 196.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 610 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of Unitil during the second quarter worth about $59,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 502.6% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Unitil during the second quarter worth about $139,000. 76.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Unitil

Unitil Corporation is a regulated public utility holding company that provides electric and natural gas distribution services in New England. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while maintaining the local infrastructure required to support safe and reliable service.

Unitil's electric operations serve communities in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Its natural gas businesses provide distribution service primarily in New Hampshire and the greater Fitchburg area of Massachusetts.

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