Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Short Interest Down 16.9% in April

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 99,100 shares, a drop of 16.9% from the March 31st total of 119,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 52,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Unitil

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UTL. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 133.8% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $131,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the first quarter valued at approximately $161,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new position in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Unitil Stock Up 1.2 %

Unitil stock traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $50.94. The stock had a trading volume of 55,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 51,304. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.64. Unitil has a fifty-two week low of $41.43 and a fifty-two week high of $58.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $823.19 million, a PE ratio of 17.84 and a beta of 0.58.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.32% and a net margin of 8.11%. The firm had revenue of $129.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Unitil will post 2.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. This is a boost from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.28%.

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.