ProShare Advisors LLC Buys 47,499 Shares of Unitil Corporation $UTL

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) by 35.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 181,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,499 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 1.00% of Unitil worth $9,229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its position in shares of Unitil by 37.8% during the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 6,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 1,916 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in shares of Unitil in the third quarter worth about $257,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 12.4% in the third quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 5,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 360.0% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 59,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,010,000 after acquiring an additional 46,400 shares during the period. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Unitil during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $989,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Unitil News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Unitil this week:

• Positive Sentiment: One earnings report said Unitil’s quarterly loss was $0.04 per share, $0.02 better than analysts’ consensus estimate of a $0.06 loss. MarketBeat earnings report
• Neutral Sentiment: Brokerage data cited an average price target of $58.67, above the stock’s recent trading level, though the provided report does not identify a new rating or target change. Average analyst price target
• Negative Sentiment: Unitil’s release reported a Q3 net loss of $1.5 million, or $0.08 per share—$1.2 million and $0.06 per share worse than a year earlier. Revenue was also below the $113.1 million consensus estimate: coverage cited figures ranging from $109.5 million to $112.6 million. The variation in reported EPS and revenue figures makes the comparison across reports less clear, but the company’s year-over-year loss deterioration and revenue miss are potential headwinds. Unitil Q3 earnings release Revenue estimate comparison

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on UTL. Huntington started coverage on shares of Unitil in a research note on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $63.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Unitil from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.67.

Unitil Price Performance

Unitil stock opened at $54.92 on Wednesday. Unitil Corporation has a 52 week low of $46.91 and a 52 week high of $57.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.66 and a beta of 0.27.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 9.16%. The business had revenue of $112.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.11 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Unitil Corporation will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.4750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Unitil’s payout ratio is presently 59.94%.

Unitil Profile

Unitil Corporation is a regulated public utility holding company that delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Its operations focus primarily on the distribution of energy through local utility networks rather than the production of electricity or natural gas.

Through its operating subsidiaries, Unitil provides electric distribution service in portions of New Hampshire and Massachusetts and natural gas distribution service in parts of southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts.