Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) by 27.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Unitil were worth $1,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in Unitil by 133.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Unitil in the fourth quarter valued at $131,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,000. Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new position in Unitil in the fourth quarter valued at $208,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Unitil in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $237,000. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Unitil Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE UTL traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $50.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,787. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $812.69 million, a P/E ratio of 17.84 and a beta of 0.58. Unitil Co. has a 52-week low of $41.43 and a 52-week high of $58.11.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $129.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.00 million. Unitil had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 9.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. This is a boost from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Unitil’s payout ratio is 60.28%.

Unitil 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.