Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 110,629 Shares of Unitil Corporation $UTL

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its stake in Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) by 18.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 491,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 110,629 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Unitil were worth $25,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Unitil in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $152,441,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Unitil in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,864,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Unitil in the second quarter valued at approximately $12,242,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil in the second quarter worth $5,730,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Unitil by 17.8% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 717,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,414,000 after buying an additional 108,254 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on UTL shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Unitil from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Unitil in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Unitil has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.50.

Unitil Price Performance

NYSE:UTL opened at $53.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $979.69 million, a P/E ratio of 16.95 and a beta of 0.32. Unitil Corporation has a one year low of $44.61 and a one year high of $57.26. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.03. Unitil had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 9.53%. The company had revenue of $113.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.19 million. Analysts anticipate that Unitil Corporation will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.94%.

Unitil 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.