Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

Key Points

• Unitil Corporation declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, payable on August 28th to stockholders of record on August 14th, representing an annual dividend of $1.80 and a yield of 3.54%.
• The company's dividend payout ratio stands at 54.7%, indicating that the dividend is supported by earnings, with projected earnings expected to cover the dividend adequately in the future.
• Unitil's stock recently traded up 0.3% to $50.86, with significant interest from institutional investors, who own 76.76% of the company's shares.

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 29th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%.

Unitil has a dividend payout ratio of 54.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Unitil to earn $3.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.5%.

Unitil Stock Up 0.3%

UTL traded up $0.18 on Tuesday, reaching $50.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 88,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 64,142. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $52.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market capitalization of $826.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36 and a beta of 0.63. Unitil has a fifty-two week low of $50.34 and a fifty-two week high of $63.52.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.78 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $207.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.03 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.74% and a return on equity of 9.49%. As a group, analysts forecast that Unitil will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Unitil

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 64.6% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 86,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,000,000 after purchasing an additional 34,017 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 18.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 67,293 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,882,000 after purchasing an additional 10,572 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 63.3% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 33,529 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 37.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,083 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 3,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 4.3% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,478 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.76% of the company's stock.

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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