AQR Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 4,014 Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in UTL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Unitil by 402.1% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 1,319 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil in the 2nd quarter worth about $181,000. BOKF NA acquired a new position in Unitil during the 2nd quarter valued at about $235,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Unitil in the 1st quarter worth about $243,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Unitil by 25.1% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.76% of the company’s stock.

Unitil Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UTL opened at $59.85 on Friday. Unitil Co. has a 12-month low of $44.71 and a 12-month high of $63.52. The company has a market cap of $967.77 million, a PE ratio of 19.82 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. Unitil had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 9.53%. The company had revenue of $95.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Unitil’s payout ratio is 56.29%.

Unitil Profile

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.