Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.43

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.425 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th.

Unitil has raised its dividend by an average of 2.6% per year over the last three years. Unitil has a dividend payout ratio of 54.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Unitil to earn $3.08 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.2%.

Unitil Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of Unitil stock traded down $1.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $56.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 49,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 56,421. The stock has a market cap of $910.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.65 and a beta of 0.60. Unitil has a 52 week low of $45.26 and a 52 week high of $63.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL - Get Free Report) 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 company 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 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Unitil will post 2.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Company 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.