Inspire Investing LLC Reduces Stock Position in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

Inspire Investing LLC cut its stake in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) by 37.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,508 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Unitil were worth $405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Unitil by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 28,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,472,000 after buying an additional 3,334 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Unitil by 1.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 442,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,790 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Unitil by 61.1% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 2,811 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Unitil by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 35,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,842,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Unitil in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. 76.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Unitil Stock Down 0.4 %

UTL opened at $52.14 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $844.07 million, a P/E ratio of 17.79 and a beta of 0.63. Unitil Co. has a one year low of $45.26 and a one year high of $63.52. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $55.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $92.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.00 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.43% and a net margin of 9.46%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Unitil Co. will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.02%.

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.