SG Americas Securities LLC Makes New $131,000 Investment in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $131,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 27,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 26.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 14,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $612,000 after acquiring an additional 2,973 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil in the third quarter worth approximately $323,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 12.6% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 404,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,275,000 after acquiring an additional 45,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Unitil by 6.7% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 110,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,738,000 after acquiring an additional 6,954 shares during the last quarter. 76.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Unitil Price Performance

UTL opened at $48.55 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.50. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $41.43 and a 1 year high of $59.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $784.49 million, a PE ratio of 17.21 and a beta of 0.58.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.04. Unitil had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 9.32%. The business had revenue of $129.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.00 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. This is a boost from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. Unitil’s payout ratio is 60.28%.

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.