Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Acquires New Position in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,501 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in Unitil by 139.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 32,834 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,989,000 after buying an additional 19,134 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Unitil by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 87,968 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,171,000 after acquiring an additional 3,795 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Unitil by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 15,398 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of Unitil by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 33,689 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,826,000 after purchasing an additional 3,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Unitil by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 21,488 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 5,770 shares during the last quarter. 76.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Unitil in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

Unitil Stock Performance

UTL stock traded down $0.81 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $56.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 129,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 62,126. Unitil Co. has a 1 year low of $48.94 and a 1 year high of $63.52. The stock has a market cap of $920.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34 and a beta of 0.67. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $57.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

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

Unitil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Unitil's payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

Unitil Company 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.