Unitil Co. (UTL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 on May 30th

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 1st, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th.

Unitil has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Unitil has a payout ratio of 54.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Unitil to earn $3.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.5%.

Unitil Stock Performance

Shares of UTL stock opened at $54.64 on Tuesday. Unitil has a 12-month low of $48.94 and a 12-month high of $63.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $887.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.46.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.78 by ($0.04). Unitil had a return on equity of 9.36% and a net margin of 9.52%. The business had revenue of $207.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.03 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Unitil will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Unitil in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

About Unitil

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.