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

Unitil Co. (NYSE:UTL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 31st, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of 0.425 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th.

Unitil has increased its dividend payment 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. Equities 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 Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of UTL traded up $0.77 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $62.05. The company had a trading volume of 77,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 55,471. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.65. The stock has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.40 and a beta of 0.60. Unitil has a 52 week low of $41.43 and a 52 week high of $62.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Unitil (NYSE:UTL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.11. Unitil had a net margin of 9.37% and a return on equity of 9.84%. The company had revenue of $178.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $209.00 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Unitil will post 2.92 EPS for the current 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.