Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday. The company traded as high as $57.95 and last traded at $57.9650, with a volume of 7,243 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $56.54.

Unitil News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Unitil this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Huntington forecasts full-year EPS of $3.28 for 2026, $3.47 for 2027 and $3.70 for 2028. The 2026 estimate is slightly below the cited $3.31 consensus, but the projections imply improving earnings in the following years. Huntington stock recommendations

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on UTL. Huntington initiated coverage on shares of Unitil in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Unitil from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.67.

Unitil Stock Down 0.3%

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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.57. The firm has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14 and a beta of 0.27.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.02. Unitil had a net margin of 9.16% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The firm had revenue of $112.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.11 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Unitil Corporation will post 3.30 EPS for the current year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.4750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unitil

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Unitil in the second quarter worth $2,250,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Unitil during the second quarter worth about $5,314,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Unitil during the second quarter worth about $1,012,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Unitil during the second quarter worth about $2,285,000. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Unitil during the second quarter worth about $2,285,000. Institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

About Unitil

Unitil Corporation is a regulated public utility holding company that delivers electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Its operations focus primarily on the distribution of energy through local utility networks rather than the production of electricity or natural gas.

Through its operating subsidiaries, Unitil provides electric distribution service in portions of New Hampshire and Massachusetts and natural gas distribution service in parts of southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts.