Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $56.76, but opened at $53.85. Unitil shares last traded at $56.70, with a volume of 10,971 shares trading hands.

Unitil Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $918.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 9.53%. The company had revenue of $95.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.00 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Unitil’s payout ratio is currently 56.29%.

Institutional Trading of Unitil

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Unitil by 402.1% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at $181,000. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. BOKF NA acquired a new position in Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at $235,000. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Unitil in the 1st quarter valued at $243,000. 76.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.