Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Stock Rating Lowered by Freedom Capital

Key Points

• Freedom Capital downgraded Unitil from "strong-buy" to a "hold," and the stock now carries a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $57.00.
• Unitil beat the latest quarter estimates with $1.88 EPS vs. $1.86 expected and reported $216.9M in revenue (vs. $179.13M), while analysts forecast about 3.31 EPS for the current year.
• Institutional investors own roughly 76.76% of the stock, with major funds (Vanguard, State Street, Manulife, JPMorgan, Wellington) increasing their stakes recently.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Freedom Capital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Unitil in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Unitil to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Unitil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Unitil has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $57.00.

Unitil Price Performance

NYSE UTL opened at $49.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.64. Unitil has a twelve month low of $44.61 and a twelve month high of $59.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $885.97 million, a PE ratio of 15.59 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.89% and a net margin of 9.60%.The company had revenue of $216.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.13 million. Research analysts anticipate that Unitil will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unitil

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UTL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Unitil by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,538,652 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $74,532,000 after acquiring an additional 67,456 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Unitil by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 721,277 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $34,939,000 after purchasing an additional 31,186 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Unitil by 17.8% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 717,423 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,414,000 after purchasing an additional 108,254 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Unitil by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 608,084 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,103,000 after purchasing an additional 14,894 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Unitil by 94.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 601,260 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,125,000 after buying an additional 291,325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.76% of the company's stock.

Unitil Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.