Legal & General Group Plc Buys New Position in Unitil Corporation $UTL

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 43,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,285,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Unitil by 37.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 12,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 3,263 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Unitil by 4.3% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Unitil by 64.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 86,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,000,000 after buying an additional 34,017 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Unitil by 18.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 67,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,882,000 after acquiring an additional 10,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Unitil by 63.3% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 33,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after buying an additional 13,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UTL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Unitil from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Unitil in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Unitil presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.50.

Unitil Stock Performance

Unitil stock opened at $53.72 on Friday. Unitil Corporation has a 52 week low of $44.61 and a 52 week high of $57.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $979.69 million, a P/E ratio of 16.95 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.83 and a 200-day moving average of $52.64.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $113.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.19 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 9.53%. On average, analysts expect that Unitil Corporation will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Unitil’s payout ratio is presently 59.94%.

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.