Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Unitil (NYSE:UTL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Unitil in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

Unitil Price Performance

UTL stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.97. 216,304 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 82,105. Unitil has a 12 month low of $44.61 and a 12 month high of $61.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $47.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $859.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.49 and a beta of 0.62.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.06. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 9.54%.The firm had revenue of $101.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.40 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Unitil will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UTL. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Unitil by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Unitil by 23.7% in the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 115,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,685,000 after purchasing an additional 22,220 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the 1st quarter worth $306,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Unitil in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Wakefield Asset Management LLLP raised its position in Unitil by 7.2% in the first quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 17,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

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.