Comparing Unitil (UTL) & Its Peers

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) is one of 52 public companies in the “Multi – Utilities” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Unitil to related companies based on the strength of its risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Unitil has a beta of 0.27, indicating that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unitil’s competitors have a beta of 0.69, indicating that their average stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Unitil and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unitil	0	5	1	0	2.17
Unitil Competitors	1051	4113	4430	86	2.37

Unitil presently has a consensus target price of $58.67, suggesting a potential upside of 3.90%. As a group, “Multi – Utilities” companies have a potential upside of 26.78%. Given Unitil’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Unitil has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Dividends

Unitil pays an annual dividend of $1.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Unitil pays out 59.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Multi – Utilities” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.3% and pay out 33.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Unitil has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Unitil lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

76.8% of Unitil shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.7% of shares of all “Multi – Utilities” companies are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Unitil shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.1% of shares of all “Multi – Utilities” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Unitil and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unitil	$536.00 million	$50.20 million	17.81
Unitil Competitors	$16.30 billion	$269.64 million	28.34

Unitil’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Unitil. Unitil is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Unitil and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unitil	9.16%	9.23%	2.68%
Unitil Competitors	8.85%	14.88%	4.08%

Summary

Unitil competitors beat Unitil on 13 of the 15 factors compared.

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. It also operates 86 miles of interstate underground natural gas transmission pipeline that provides interstate natural gas pipeline access and transportation services primarily in Maine and New Hampshire. In addition, the company provides real estate management services. It serves approximately 108,100 electric customers and 87,500 natural gas customers. Unitil Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire.