Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) to Issue $0.48 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• Unitil announced a quarterly dividend of $0.475 per share (about $0.48), payable May 29 to holders of record on May 14, implying an annualized dividend of $1.90 and a yield of roughly 3.6%.
• The company has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years and currently has a payout ratio of 57.8%; analysts forecast $3.51 in EPS next year, implying a projected payout ratio of about 54.1% and continued dividend coverage.
• Unitil recently beat expectations with quarterly EPS of $1.13 (vs. $1.03 est.) and revenue of $161.5M (vs. $144.45M), and trades with a market cap near $946M and a P/E of about 17.6.

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.475 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, May 29th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 14th.

Unitil has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 12 consecutive years. Unitil has a payout ratio of 57.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Unitil to earn $3.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.1%.

Unitil Trading Up 0.9%

Unitil stock opened at $52.60 on Thursday. Unitil has a one year low of $44.61 and a one year high of $59.99. The company's fifty day moving average price is $52.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $946.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 0.45.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $161.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $144.45 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.38% and a net margin of 9.37%. On average, analysts forecast that Unitil will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Unitil

Unitil Corporation NYSE: UTL is a publicly traded energy delivery company that provides regulated electric and natural gas distribution services. The company delivers energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers through a network of distribution systems, offering safe and reliable service across its service areas. Unitil's operations include system maintenance, emergency response, meter reading and customer support functions, all governed by state regulatory commissions.

Headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire, Unitil serves communities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

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