Meritage Portfolio Management Buys 715 Shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

Meritage Portfolio Management grew its stake in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 715 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Unitil were worth $353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Unitil by 6.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 723,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,835,000 after buying an additional 41,511 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 511,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,006,000 after purchasing an additional 19,341 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 381,658 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,126,000 after purchasing an additional 11,324 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 113,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Unitil during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,827,000. Institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Unitil Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:UTL opened at $55.09 on Friday. Unitil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.26 and a fifty-two week high of $63.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $891.83 million, a PE ratio of 18.80 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.70.

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

Unitil Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Unitil’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Unitil’s payout ratio is presently 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.