Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Unitil (NYSE:UTL – Get Rating) in a research note published on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Unitil from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th.

Unitil Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE UTL opened at $53.94 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $53.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.66. Unitil has a 52-week low of $44.67 and a 52-week high of $61.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $867.36 million, a P/E ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 13th. This is a positive change from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio is 62.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unitil

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Unitil by 4.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,224,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,885,000 after purchasing an additional 50,451 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Unitil by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 628,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,182,000 after buying an additional 11,222 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Unitil by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 583,351 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,254,000 after buying an additional 3,600 shares in the last quarter. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC grew its holdings in Unitil by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC now owns 488,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,681,000 after buying an additional 13,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Unitil by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 446,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,933,000 after buying an additional 19,251 shares in the last quarter. 74.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Unitil Company Profile

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UNITIL Corp. operates as a holding company, which engages in the local distribution of electricity and natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Electric, Gas, and Others. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Hampton, NH.