Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Shares Bought by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) by 109.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,825 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Unitil were worth $443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of UTL. Aurora Investment Counsel purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the first quarter worth $2,346,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 66.0% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 38,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,000,000 after buying an additional 15,355 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the second quarter worth $357,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the first quarter worth $346,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 145.7% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 6,574 shares during the period. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Unitil Trading Up 2.3 %

UTL opened at $60.61 on Thursday. Unitil Co. has a 52 week low of $44.71 and a 52 week high of $63.52. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.19. The firm has a market cap of $980.06 million, a P/E ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $95.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.00 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 9.53%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.29%.

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.