Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Short Interest Up 24.0% in July

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) saw a significant growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 156,300 shares, a growth of 24.0% from the June 30th total of 126,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 59,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Unitil

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Unitil by 402.1% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Unitil by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Unitil by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 32,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,660,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in Unitil by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 403,482 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,896,000 after buying an additional 4,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of Unitil by 66.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 38,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,000,000 after purchasing an additional 15,355 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Unitil Trading Up 0.6 %

UTL stock traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.43. 43,350 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 78,443. Unitil has a 52-week low of $41.43 and a 52-week high of $60.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.87 and a 200-day moving average of $51.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $977.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14 and a beta of 0.60.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.11. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.84% and a net margin of 9.37%. The firm had revenue of $178.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.00 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Unitil will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.67%.

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.