ProShare Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Unitil Corporation $UTL

ProShare Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 128,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,147 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Unitil were worth $6,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 4.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,471,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,411,000 after buying an additional 68,820 shares during the last quarter. Aventail Capital Group LP bought a new stake in shares of Unitil in the third quarter worth $3,031,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 85.8% in the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 89,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,301,000 after buying an additional 41,490 shares during the last quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Unitil in the third quarter worth $718,000. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Unitil in the third quarter worth $13,162,000. Institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on UTL. Freedom Capital lowered shares of Unitil from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Unitil to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Unitil in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Unitil in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Unitil from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.50.

Unitil Stock Performance

Unitil stock opened at $51.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $932.01 million, a PE ratio of 16.39 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $52.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.53. Unitil Corporation has a 12 month low of $44.61 and a 12 month high of $55.12.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $216.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.13 million. Unitil had a net margin of 9.60% and a return on equity of 9.89%. Research analysts expect that Unitil Corporation will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 14th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 14th. Unitil’s payout ratio is currently 60.13%.

Unitil Company Profile

Unitil Corporation (NYSE: UTL) is a publicly traded energy delivery company that provides regulated electric and natural gas distribution services. The company delivers energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers through a network of distribution systems, offering safe and reliable service across its service areas. Unitil’s operations include system maintenance, emergency response, meter reading and customer support functions, all governed by state regulatory commissions.

Headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire, Unitil serves communities in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.