Contrasting Unitil (UTL) and The Competition

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) is one of 52 public companies in the “Multi – Utilities” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Unitil to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Unitil and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unitil	0	5	1	0	2.17
Unitil Competitors	1051	4109	4427	86	2.37

Unitil presently has a consensus price target of $58.67, indicating a potential upside of 5.92%. As a group, “Multi – Utilities” companies have a potential upside of 29.46%. Given Unitil’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Unitil has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Volatility and Risk

Unitil has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unitil’s peers have a beta of 0.70, meaning that their average share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Unitil pays out 59.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Multi – Utilities” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.4% and pay out 33.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Unitil has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Unitil lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

76.8% of Unitil shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.7% of shares of all “Multi – Utilities” companies are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Unitil shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.1% of shares of all “Multi – Utilities” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Unitil and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unitil	9.49%	9.53%	2.80%
Unitil Competitors	8.92%	14.89%	4.09%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Unitil and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unitil	$536.00 million	$50.20 million	17.47
Unitil Competitors	$16.49 billion	$269.64 million	27.68

Unitil’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Unitil. Unitil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Unitil peers beat Unitil on 13 of the 15 factors compared.

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. It also operates 86 miles of interstate underground natural gas transmission pipeline that provides interstate natural gas pipeline access and transportation services primarily in Maine and New Hampshire. In addition, the company provides real estate management services. It serves approximately 108,100 electric customers and 87,500 natural gas customers. Unitil Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire.