15,710 Shares in Unitil Corporation $UTL Bought by Ieq Capital LLC

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 15,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $828,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTL. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Unitil by 87.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 51,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,731,000 after acquiring an additional 24,131 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Unitil by 91.5% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 41,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,160,000 after acquiring an additional 19,760 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Unitil by 17,616.8% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 21,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 20,964 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Unitil during the first quarter valued at approximately $7,836,000. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new position in Unitil in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,285,000. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on UTL shares. Freedom Capital lowered Unitil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Unitil from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Unitil in a report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Unitil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.50.

Unitil Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:UTL opened at $53.45 on Friday. Unitil Corporation has a 52-week low of $44.61 and a 52-week high of $57.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $974.77 million, a P/E ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.56.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $113.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.19 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 9.49%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Unitil Corporation will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. Unitil’s payout ratio is currently 59.94%.

Unitil Profile

Unitil Corporation (NYSE: UTL) is a publicly traded energy delivery company that provides regulated electric and natural gas distribution services. The company delivers energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers through a network of distribution systems, offering safe and reliable service across its service areas. Unitil’s operations include system maintenance, emergency response, meter reading and customer support functions, all governed by state regulatory commissions.

Headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire, Unitil serves communities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.