Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Shares Sold by Foundry Partners LLC

Foundry Partners LLC lowered its stake in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 112,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,115 shares during the quarter. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in Unitil were worth $5,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Unitil by 402.1% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares during the period. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Unitil in the 1st quarter valued at $161,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at $181,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Unitil in the 1st quarter valued at $243,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Unitil by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Unitil Price Performance

Unitil stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.83. The company had a trading volume of 1,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,322. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $951.28 million, a PE ratio of 19.68 and a beta of 0.60. Unitil Co. has a 1-year low of $41.43 and a 1-year high of $62.53.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $95.70 million for 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders 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 2.89%. Unitil’s payout ratio is currently 56.67%.

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.