42,696 Shares in Unitil Corporation $UTL Purchased by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 42,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,250,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil in the second quarter worth approximately $609,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at $828,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at $12,242,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at $250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Unitil Price Performance

NYSE:UTL opened at $53.30 on Friday. Unitil Corporation has a one year low of $44.61 and a one year high of $57.26. The stock has a market cap of $972.19 million, a PE ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 0.31. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $53.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.56.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $113.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.19 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.53% and a net margin of 9.49%. Equities research analysts expect that Unitil Corporation will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on UTL. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Unitil in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. 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, Freedom Capital lowered shares of Unitil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.50.

About Unitil

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.