Boston Partners Has $537,000 Position in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

Boston Partners reduced its stake in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) by 38.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,247 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned about 0.06% of Unitil worth $537,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Unitil by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $696,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Unitil by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 9,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $503,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Unitil by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 15,398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $834,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Unitil by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 31,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P grew its position in shares of Unitil by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 34,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,113,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the period. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Unitil in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Unitil Price Performance

Shares of UTL opened at $55.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.97. Unitil Co. has a 52-week low of $47.40 and a 52-week high of $63.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $893.87 million, a PE ratio of 18.78 and a beta of 0.60.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 13th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 13th. This is a positive change from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Unitil’s payout ratio is currently 61.43%.

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.