Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Shares Sold by Kesler Norman & Wride LLC

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC cut its stake in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) by 12.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 535 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in Unitil were worth $235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of UTL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of 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. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil during the 2nd quarter worth about $181,000. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil during the 2nd quarter worth about $208,000. BOKF NA acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil during the 2nd quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil during the 1st quarter worth about $243,000. 76.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Unitil Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:UTL opened at $57.52 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $59.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $930.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17 and a beta of 0.60. Unitil Co. has a 12-month low of $44.59 and a 12-month high of $63.52.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $95.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.00 million. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 9.53%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Unitil Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Unitil’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.