State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 17,978 Shares of Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL - Free Report) by 32.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 17,978 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.23% of Unitil worth $1,945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Unitil in the second quarter valued at approximately $357,000. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Unitil by 21.1% in the second quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 31,009 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 5,394 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Unitil by 1.6% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,419 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,058,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Unitil by 1.9% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 55,027 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,850,000 after buying an additional 1,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. 76.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Unitil Stock Performance

Shares of UTL traded down $1.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $60.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 359,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 58,246. Unitil Co. has a 1-year low of $41.43 and a 1-year high of $63.52. The stock has a market cap of $976.22 million, a P/E ratio of 20.13 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.24. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $95.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 firm posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Unitil Co. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Unitil Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 2.82%. Unitil's payout ratio is currently 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.