Northern Trust Corp Sells 11,315 Shares of Unitil Corporation $UTL

Northern Trust Corp cut its position in shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) by 6.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 174,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,315 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Unitil were worth $10,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of UTL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Unitil by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,884 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in Unitil by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 18,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Unitil by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 77,382 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,193,000 after purchasing an additional 6,117 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Unitil by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 30,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,647,000 after purchasing an additional 4,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Unitil during the 4th quarter worth approximately $485,000. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Unitil Price Performance

UTL opened at $46.18 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.52. Unitil Corporation has a 1 year low of $45.11 and a 1 year high of $63.52. The firm has a market cap of $816.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.68.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.01. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 9.54%.The business had revenue of $101.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.00 million. As a group, analysts predict that Unitil Corporation will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.86%.

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.