Unitil (UTL) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) is a New England–based energy delivery company engaged in the regulated distribution of electricity and natural gas. Through its electric and gas utilities, the company provides safe, reliable service to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Unitil’s core operations encompass both electric distribution and natural gas delivery, supported by a network of transmission lines, pipelines and related infrastructure.

Unitil’s regulated utility segment consists of two electric distribution companies and two natural gas distribution companies serving communities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. Its service territory spans coastal and inland regions, where the company maintains and operates distribution systems, responds to outages, and implements system upgrades. In addition to its utility operations, Unitil Services Inc., an unregulated subsidiary, offers regional energy infrastructure services such as line construction, vegetation management and emergency restoration work.

Tracing its roots to 19th-century regional utilities, Unitil was formed as a holding company in the mid-1980s to consolidate local electric and gas operations under a single corporate structure. Over the years, the company has invested in system modernization initiatives, including advanced metering infrastructure, grid resiliency improvements and targeted renewable energy projects. Headquarters are located in Hampton, New Hampshire, where Unitil carries out strategic planning, regulatory advocacy and corporate support activities.

Under the leadership of President and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Cyr, Unitil emphasizes operational excellence, customer satisfaction and safety. The company’s board and executive team prioritize investments in infrastructure renewal, environmental stewardship and energy efficiency programs. By balancing the demands of regulated utility service with the flexibility of its unregulated services arm, Unitil aims to meet evolving energy needs while maintaining high standards of reliability and community engagement.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $51.13 to $51.89
• 50-Day Range: $51.67 to $59.87
• 52-Week Range: $51.08 to $63.52
• Volume: 43,590 shs
• Average Volume: 63,141 shs
• Market Capitalization: $832.35 million
• P/E Ratio: 17.47
• Dividend Yield: 3.52%
• Price Target: $55.00
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Unitil Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Unitil scored higher than 60% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 69th out of 97 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.0 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Unitil has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.00, and is based on no buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Unitil has received no research coverage in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 7.14%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Unitil are expected to grow by 7.14% in the coming year, from $3.08 to $3.30 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Unitil is 17.47, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 25.87.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Unitil is 17.47, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 20.01.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Unitil has a P/B Ratio of 1.62. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

17.07% of the float of Unitil has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Unitil has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Unitil has recently increased by 937.77%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Unitil pays a meaningful dividend of 3.48%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Unitil has been increasing its dividend for 12 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Unitil is 61.43%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Unitil will have a dividend payout ratio of 54.55% next year. This indicates that Unitil will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

17.07% of the float of Unitil has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Unitil has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Unitil has recently increased by 937.77%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.54

News Sentiment

Unitil has a news sentiment score of 1.54. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.73 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for Unitil this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

1 people have searched for UTL on MarketBeat in the last 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

1 people have added Unitil to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Unitil insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 2.03% of the stock of Unitil is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

76.76% of the stock of Unitil is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

UTL Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have UTL shares performed this year?

Unitil's stock was trading at $54.19 at the beginning of 2025. Since then, UTL stock has decreased by 5.5% and is now trading at $51.19.

How were Unitil's earnings last quarter?

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May, 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.04. The utilities provider earned $207 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.03 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.74% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 9.49%.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are Unitil's major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Unitil include Wedge Capital Management L L P NC (0.19%).
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Unitil?

Shares of UTL stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Unitil own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Unitil investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Meta Platforms (META), Visa (V), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Home Depot (HD).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 5/06/2025
• Record date for 5/30 Dividend: 5/15/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 5/30 Dividend: 5/15/2025
• Dividend Payable: 5/30/2025
• Today: 7/11/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 8/05/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: UTIL - ELEC PWR
• Sub-Industry: Electric Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:UTL
• CIK: 755001
• Web: www.unitil.com
• Phone: (603) 772-0775
• Fax: 603-773-6605
• Employees: 520
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Unitil: $55.00
• High Price Target: $55.00
• Low Price Target: $55.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +7.3%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.00
• Research Coverage: 1 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $2.93
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 17.48
• Forward P/E Ratio: 16.65
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $47.10 million
• Net Margins: 9.74%
• Pretax Margin: 12.63%
• Return on Equity: 9.49%
• Return on Assets: 2.74%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.19
• Current Ratio: 0.66
• Quick Ratio: 0.61

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $486.90 million
• Price / Sales: 1.71
• Cash Flow: $7.54 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 6.80
• Book Value: $31.64 per share
• Price / Book: 1.62

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 16,260,000
• Free Float: 15,930,000
• Market Cap: $833.81 million
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.63