Unitil (NYSE:UTL) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $45.11 and last traded at $45.29, with a volume of 21269 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.24.

Unitil Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $800.47 million, a P/E ratio of 15.55 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $49.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.61.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.01. Unitil had a net margin of 9.54% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The company had revenue of $101.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.00 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Unitil Corporation will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Unitil’s payout ratio is 61.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Unitil

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new position in Unitil during the second quarter worth $34,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Unitil by 45.8% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Unitil by 27.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Unitil in the 1st quarter valued at $99,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in Unitil in the 1st quarter valued at $100,000. Institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

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.