Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Unitil by 133.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $131,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Unitil during the first quarter worth approximately $161,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,000. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp bought a new position in shares of Unitil during the fourth quarter worth approximately $208,000. 76.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Unitil Trading Down 1.1 %

Unitil stock opened at $49.94 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $50.82 and a 200-day moving average of $49.76. Unitil has a one year low of $41.43 and a one year high of $59.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $807.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71 and a beta of 0.58.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $129.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.00 million. Unitil had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 9.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Unitil will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a $0.425 dividend. This is a boost from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.