Unitil (UTL) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It also operates 86 miles of interstate underground natural gas transmission pipeline that provides interstate natural gas pipeline access and transportation services primarily in Maine and New Hampshire. In addition, the company provides real estate management services. It serves approximately 108,100 electric customers and 87,500 natural gas customers. Unitil Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $59.69 to $60.92
• 50-Day Range: $57.24 to $62.50
• 52-Week Range: $44.71 to $63.52
• Volume: 34,945 shs
• Average Volume: 57,075 shs
• Market Capitalization: $967.77 million
• P/E Ratio: 19.82
• Dividend Yield: 2.84%
• Price Target: N/A
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Unitil Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Unitil scored higher than 76% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 47th out of 95 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: N/A
• Analyst Rating: N/A

Consensus Rating

There is not enough analysis data for Unitil.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 5.48%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Unitil are expected to grow by 5.48% in the coming year, from $2.92 to $3.08 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Unitil is 19.82, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 132.82.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Unitil is 19.82, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 101.12.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Unitil has a P/B Ratio of 1.97. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.94% of the outstanding shares of Unitil have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Unitil has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Unitil has recently decreased by 14.46%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Unitil pays a meaningful dividend of 2.89%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Unitil does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Unitil is 56.29%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Unitil will have a dividend payout ratio of 55.19% next year. This indicates that Unitil will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.94% of the outstanding shares of Unitil have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Unitil has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.4, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Unitil has recently decreased by 14.46%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.47

News Sentiment

Unitil has a news sentiment score of 1.47. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.50 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for Unitil this week, compared to 1 article on an average week.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Unitil insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 2.16% of the stock of Unitil is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

76.76% of the stock of Unitil is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

UTL Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have UTL shares performed this year?

Unitil's stock was trading at $52.57 at the start of the year. Since then, UTL stock has increased by 13.8% and is now trading at $59.85.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Unitil's earnings last quarter?

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) released its earnings results on Tuesday, August, 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. The utilities provider earned $95.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94 million. Unitil had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 9.53%.

Who are Unitil's major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Unitil include Wedge Capital Management L L P NC (0.19%), Annex Advisory Services LLC (0.10%), Inspire Investing LLC (0.07%) and Ellsworth Advisors LLC (0.06%).
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Unitil?

Shares of UTL stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Unitil own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Unitil investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Tesla (TSLA), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Meta Platforms (META), Visa (V), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Home Depot (HD).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/06/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 8/29 Dividend: 8/15/2024
• Dividend Payable: 8/29/2024
• Today: 10/17/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/05/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: Electric & other services combined
• Sub-Industry: Electric Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:UTL
• CUSIP: 91325910
• CIK: 755001
• Web: www.unitil.com
• Phone: (603) 772-0775
• Fax: 603-773-6605
• Employees: 536
• Year Founded: N/A

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $3.02
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 19.82
• Forward P/E Ratio: 20.50
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $45.20 million
• Net Margins: 9.53%
• Pretax Margin: 12.32%
• Return on Equity: 9.74%
• Return on Assets: 2.90%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.00
• Current Ratio: 0.58
• Quick Ratio: 0.53

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $557.10 million
• Price / Sales: 1.74
• Cash Flow: $7.13 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 8.40
• Book Value: $30.38 per share
• Price / Book: 1.97

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 16,170,000
• Free Float: 15,825,000
• Market Cap: $967.77 million
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.60