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UTL, UNITIL Corporation

Multi-Utilities capital-intensive Regulated utility

Revenue is Gas (56%) and Electric (44%).

The following companies are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Unitil: Company Name State and Year of Organization Principal Business Unitil Energy Systems, Inc.

Unitil's principal business is the local distribution of electricity and natural gas to approximately 215,100 customers throughout its service territories in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

UTL · UNITIL Corporation

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$536M

+8.3% YoY · 5% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $597M 5-yr avg $525M

Operating margin 18.9% 5-yr avg 16.7%

ROIC 6% 5-yr avg 6%

Owner-earnings margin −8% 5-yr avg −6%

Free cash flow margin −8% 5-yr avg −6%

Next report Est. 11/2–11/5 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 40 days of period end · has filed ~35 days after · the wire records it on arrival

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What it is: A regulated utility, earning a set return on the capital it sinks into its network.
Situation: Regulated utility. Returns are set by regulation on an approved rate base; the capital spending regulators approve becomes the growth, recovered through allowed rates.
What moves the needle: Operating margin has run about 17% through the cycle, a solid margin the cost base and competition set as much as the price does. That margin has stayed fairly steady relative to where it runs (14%–19% over the years), so unit growth and cost discipline, not a moving line, are the lever. Capital spending runs about 26% of sales, so the return earned on what it sinks into that plant weighs as much as the margin. Read this kind of business on rate base and the allowed return. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?: Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median 7%, above 15% in 0 of 10 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. Modest returns here are the design, not a verdict: a regulated utility's prices are set by commission, so the questions are the return the regulator allows, how fast the invested base it earns that return on is growing, and the health of the relationship with the commissions that decide both — all of which live in the 10-K, not the multiple.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

Where the money comes from

read the 10-K →

Revenue spreads across 2 segments, the largest Gas at 56%.

Revenue by reportable segment, FY2025

Gas56%$300M
Electric44%$236M

From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	2025’25	TTMTTMJun 2026
											Income statement
$383M	$406M	$444M	$438M	$419M	$473M	$563M	$557M	$495M	$536M	$597M	RevenueRevenue
$70M	$75M	$71M	$73M	$71M	$78M	$81M	$87M	$91M	$101M	$113M	Operating incomeOp. inc.
18.3%	18.6%	16.0%	16.7%	17.1%	16.4%	14.3%	15.6%	18.3%	18.9%	18.9%	Operating marginOp. mgn
$43M	$47M	$41M	$58M	$42M	$48M	$53M	$58M	$61M	$66M	—	Pretax incomePretax
$27M	$29M	$33M	$44M	$32M	$36M	$41M	$45M	$47M	$50M	$57M	Net incomeNet inc.
36%	38%	20%	24%	24%	24%	21%	23%	23%	23%	24%	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$68M	$86M	$79M	$105M	$76M	$108M	$98M	$107M	$126M	$131M	$143M	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$41M	$57M	$46M	$61M	$44M	$72M	$56M	$62M	$79M	$81M	$86M	Working capital & otherWC & other
$98M	$119M	$102M	$119M	$123M	$115M	$122M	$141M	$170M	$185M	$188M	CapexCapex
25.6%	29.4%	23.1%	27.2%	29.3%	24.3%	21.7%	25.3%	34.3%	34.5%	31.6%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($30M)	($33M)	($24M)	($14M)	($47M)	($7M)	($24M)	($34M)	($44M)	($54M)	($46M)	Owner earningsOwner earn.
−7.8%	−8.1%	−5.4%	−3.3%	−11.2%	−1.5%	−4.3%	−6.1%	−8.9%	−10.0%	−7.6%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($30M)	($33M)	($24M)	($14M)	($47M)	($7M)	($24M)	($34M)	($44M)	($54M)	($46M)	Free cash flowFCF
−7.8%	−8.1%	−5.4%	−3.3%	−11.2%	−1.5%	−4.3%	−6.1%	−8.9%	−10.0%	−7.6%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	$0	$0	$160M	$132M	AcquisitionsAcquis.
$20M	$20M	$22M	$22M	$23M	$24M	$25M	$26M	$28M	$30M	$33M	Dividends paidDiv. paid
($98M)	($119M)	($102M)	($106M)	($123M)	($115M)	($122M)	($141M)	($170M)	($346M)	—	Investing cash flowInv. cash
$27M	$36M	$23M	($2M)	$48M	$8M	$27M	$32M	$44M	$224M	—	Financing cash flowFin. cash
($3M)	$3M	($1M)	($3M)	$800K	$500K	$3M	($3M)	($200K)	$9M	—	Change in cashΔ cash
7%	6%	8%	7%	6%	6%	7%	7%	6%	6%	6%	ROICROIC
9%	9%	9%	12%	8%	8%	9%	9%	9%	8%	9%	Return on equityROE
2%	3%	3%	6%	2%	3%	3%	4%	4%	3%	4%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$6M	$9M	$8M	$5M	$6M	$7M	$9M	$7M	$6M	$16M	$9M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$53M	$67M	$67M	$55M	$62M	$67M	$74M	$75M	$75M	$99M	$75M	ReceivablesReceiv.
$32M	$42M	$43M	$38M	$33M	$52M	$69M	$48M	$50M	$63M	$44M	Accounts payablePayables
$21M	$26M	$24M	$18M	$29M	$15M	$5M	$27M	$25M	$36M	$32M	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$132M	$151M	$152M	$131M	$139M	$160M	$195M	$177M	$189M	$240M	$199M	Current assetsCur. assets
$177M	$151M	$193M	$160M	$136M	$174M	$260M	$277M	$229M	$426M	$405M	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
0.7×	1.0×	0.8×	0.8×	1.0×	0.9×	0.7×	0.6×	0.8×	0.6×	0.5×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$883M	$972M	$1.0B	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.4B	$1.5B	$1.8B	—	Net PP&ENet PP&E
$142M	$149M	$140M	$148M	$165M	$156M	$114M	$110M	$112M	$117M	—	Regulatory assetsReg. assets
$13M	$58M	$59M	$54M	$50M	$52M	$52M	$48M	$64M	$81M	—	Regulatory liabilitiesReg. liab.
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	$0	$4M	$7M	GoodwillGoodwill
$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.4B	$1.5B	$1.5B	$1.6B	$1.7B	$1.8B	$2.1B	$2.2B	Total assetsAssets
$334M	$406M	$406M	$457M	$532M	$506M	$496M	$514M	$643M	$671M	$721M	Total debtDebt
$328M	$397M	$398M	$452M	$526M	$500M	$487M	$508M	$637M	$655M	$712M	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
$24M	$26M	$26M	$27M	$26M	$27M	$28M	$35M	$38M	$44M	$44M	Interest expenseInt. exp.
3.0×	3.0×	2.7×	2.7×	2.7×	2.9×	2.8×	2.5×	2.4×	2.3×	2.6×	Interest coverageInt. cov.
$293M	$337M	$351M	$377M	$389M	$449M	$468M	$489M	$513M	$610M	$644M	Shareholders’ equityEquity
											Per share
14.0M	14.1M	14.8M	14.9M	15.0M	15.4M	16.0M	16.1M	16.1M	16.8M	17.9M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$27.39	$28.80	$29.95	$29.41	$28.00	$30.78	$35.21	$34.70	$30.72	$31.93	$33.34	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$1.94	$2.06	$2.23	$2.97	$2.15	$2.35	$2.59	$2.82	$2.92	$2.99	$3.16	EPS (diluted)EPS
$-2.13	$-2.35	$-1.61	$-0.96	$-3.14	$-0.47	$-1.53	$-2.12	$-2.73	$-3.20	$-2.54	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-2.13	$-2.35	$-1.61	$-0.96	$-3.14	$-0.47	$-1.53	$-2.12	$-2.73	$-3.20	$-2.54	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$1.43	$1.45	$1.47	$1.48	$1.51	$1.53	$1.57	$1.63	$1.71	$1.79	$1.82	Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$7.01	$8.46	$6.91	$8.00	$8.20	$7.48	$7.63	$8.78	$10.55	$11.03	$10.52	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$20.94	$23.88	$23.69	$25.29	$26.03	$29.17	$29.23	$30.48	$31.81	$36.31	$35.98	Book value / shareBVPS

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+1.7%/yr	+2.7%/yr
EPS	+4.9%/yr	+6.8%/yr
Dividends / share	+2.6%/yr	+3.5%/yr
Capital spending / share	+5.2%/yr	+6.1%/yr
Book value / share	+6.3%/yr	+6.9%/yr

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedBeyond op. cash

Each year's outlays against its operating cash: the mix, and how it drifts. The hatched cap is spending beyond that year's operating cash — financed from the balance sheet or borrowing, not operations.

FY2016FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business reported $50M of profit but ($54M) of owner earnings: $104M less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$50M	$47M	$45M	$41M	$36M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	+$81M	+$79M	+$62M	+$56M	+$72M
Cash from operations	$131M	$126M	$107M	$98M	$108M
Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow	−$185M	−$170M	−$141M	−$122M	−$115M
Owner earnings	($54M)	($44M)	($34M)	($24M)	($7M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	-10%	-9%	-6%	-4%	-2%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position .

A regulated utility reads differently here. What it spends above depreciation goes into rate base, where the commission lets it earn the allowed return and recover the capital, with interest, over decades — growth that is financed, not taken out of owners' pockets this year. So the truth sits between the bridge's two ends: owner earnings excuses the build-out entirely, free cash flow charges it entirely, and the scorecard's utility-plant figure shows how fast the base earning that return is compounding.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

The allowed return, earned and credited

Earned return on equity 9.0%

Earning the allowed return

Median over 10 readable years · latest FY2025: 8.2% (net income $50M ÷ equity $610M)

What this means
A commission caps what a regulated utility may earn on shareholders' capital, so the question is not whether the return is high but whether the company actually earns what it is allowed — persistent under-earning means costs the regulator will not put in rates, and a return above the band usually means unregulated businesses in the mix. Read through the record, because a single year carries rate-case timing noise.
AFUDC in earnings —

Not enough data

What this means
The equity allowance for funds used during construction is not tagged in this filer's structured data — the construction credit, if any, lives in the 10-K's rate-matters note.

The invested base and the regulatory ledger

Net utility plant $1.8B

Growing ≈ 8.2%/yr

Utility plant net of depreciation, as filed · FY2016→FY2025: $883M → $1.8B, ≈ 8.2%/yr

What this means
The closest filed figure to the rate base — the invested capital the commission sets the allowed return on. Its growth rate is the utility's reinvestment runway: under regulation, earnings power compounds roughly as fast as the base the return is earned on, funded by capital the regulator lets the company recover with interest. Rate base itself is not tagged in any structured filing, so this is the proxy, labeled as what it is.
Regulatory assets & liabilities $117M / $81M

Owed recovery from ratepayers

Regulatory assets $117M · regulatory liabilities $81M · net $36M asset position, as filed

What this means
The ledger of the regulatory relationship: assets are costs the commission has agreed the utility may collect from ratepayers in future rates, liabilities are amounts it must give back. Both are promises whose worth depends entirely on the commissions that made them — which is why they are shown as filed and never netted into earnings adjustments here.

Graham’s defensive tests · 4 of 5 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

Adequate size Miss

Revenue ≥ $2B · $536M

What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
Strong liquidity —

Current ratio ≥ 2× (waived for utilities) · exempt

What this means
Graham exempted public utilities from this test: their working capital “takes care of itself” through the continuous bond-and-share financing of growth, so a thin current ratio is the industry's structure, not a warning. His substitute test — debt no more than twice book equity — is the next line.
Conservative debt Pass

Debt ≤ 2× equity (Graham's utility test) · $671M vs $610M equity

What this means
Graham's own substitution for public utilities: debt not exceeding twice the stock equity at book value, in place of the working-capital tests an industrial faces. A utility finances its plant with bonds by design; the question is whether the borrowing stays inside the equity behind it.
Earnings stability Pass

A profit every year (10-yr record) · no losses

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record Pass

Uninterrupted dividends · paid every year (10)

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
Earnings growth Pass

Earnings +33% over the record · +60%

What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
Moderate price —

P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price

What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $2.60/share (latest year $2.75), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $33.43/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 10 of 10

What this means
Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.
Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 10 yrs

What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
Operating margin 18% → 18% (3-yr avg ends)

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 18% early, 18% lately, median 17%.
Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 5%

What this means
Reinvested capital came back at only a modest incremental return — near the cost of capital, where extra growth adds little per dollar. The record shows whether it is a soft stretch or a thinning moat.
Worst year 2022 · 14.3% op. margin

What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
Share count +2.0%/yr

What this means
The share count is rising, dilution works against you on a per-share basis.
Dividend record rising

What this means
Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.
How management talks about it Owner’s terms

What this means
The filing reasons in an owner’s terms — per-share, return on capital, the long term — and the record has held; the words and the results are of a piece.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Jun 30, 2026

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$199M

Cash & short-term investments$9M
Receivables$75M
Other current assets$114M

Current liabilities$405M

Debt due within a year$41M
Accounts payable$44M
Other current liabilities$320M

Current ratio0.49×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio0.49×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.02×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital($206M)the cushion left after near-term bills

Debt due this year vs. cash$41M due · $9M cash cash alone won't cover the maturities; it leans on refinancing or operating cash · both figures from the Jun 30, 2026 balance sheet

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+14.0%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters0.9× → 0.5×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$637Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Debt incl. operating leases$728M$6M of it operating leases

From the company's latest filing.

Debt maturity

the debt note, SEC EDGAR →

Not how much it owes, but when it falls due, and against what. The ladder the company files, beside cash on hand and a year's owner earnings.

'26$38M

'27$56M

'28$11M

'29$44M

'30$27M

Bars scaled to the largest single year.

Due in the next 12 months$38Mthe first rung: what must be repaid or rolled over within the year

Within two years$94Mthe near wall, the part most exposed to today’s credit conditions

Biggest single year$56Min 2027the lumpiest maturity, where a refinancing, if needed, is largest

Due over the next five years$175Mthe near slice; the balance sheet carries $671M of debt in all

Against what the business has and earns

Cash & short-term investments, Jun 30, 2026$9M

Together, against $38M due next year0.24×

Cash on hand as of Jun 30, 2026 comes to $9M against the $38M due in the twelve months after the Dec 31, 2025 schedule: about 24% of it, so the near maturities lean on refinancing or the rest of the year’s cash.

Maturity schedule extracted from the company’s Dec 31, 2025 annual report and reconciled to the balance-sheet debt.

How the cash was used, 2016–2025

Over the record, the business generated $983M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a reinvestor, most operating cash is plowed back into the business.

Reinvested$1.3B · 132%
Dividends$239M · 24%

Returned to owners$239M
$239M as dividends and $0 as buybacks.
Source of funding−$551M
Reinvestment and shareholder returns ran $551M beyond the operating cash the business generated, so the gap was financed off the balance sheet: debt rose from $334M to $721M.
Net change in share count27.8%
The diluted count rose from 14M to 18M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.
Dividend record$1.79/sh
Paid in 10 of the years on record, the per-share dividend growing about 3% a year. It was never cut over the span.
Return on what it retained−10%
Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($146M over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) fell $15M, so each retained $1 gave back about 0.10 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Management, ownership & pay

read the proxy →

From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.

Fiscal year	Chief executive	Pay, as filed	“Actually paid”	Owner earnings
2021	Mr. Meissner	$2.4M	$2.2M	($7M)
2022	Mr. Meissner	$1.5M	$1.7M	($24M)
2023	Mr. Meissner	$2.6M	$2.3M	($34M)
2024	Mr. Meissner	$2.6M	$2.4M	($44M)
2025	Mr. Meissner	$3.2M	$2.3M	($54M)

Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.

Insider ownership2.2%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.

What an owner would ask, FY2025

read the 10-K →

Which reported numbers are a judgment call?
Management names Pension & retirement as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →

The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.

Peers, Multi-Utilities

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each column names the period it is read over; the group median at the foot is the line to read each figure against.

Company	Revenuelatest FY, USD	ROEmedian over the record	Plant growthannualized over the record	Dividend / cashmedian over the record
NINiSource Inc	$6.5B	8%	9.1%	27%
EVRGEvergy	$6.0B	8%	14.5%	29%
LNTAlliant Energy	$4.4B	11%	8.0%	57%
AVAAvista	$2.0B	7%	4.8%	30%
NWENorthWestern Energy	$1.6B	7%	6.0%	41%
ALEALLETE	$1.5B	8%	—	33%
MGEEMGE Energy	$744M	10%	—	30%
UTLUNITIL Corporation	$536M	9%	8.2%	24%
Group median	—	8%	8.1%	30%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

UNITIL Corporation is profitable, but owner earnings are negative this year because capital spending currently outruns operating cash, a build-out, so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no positive base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the steady-state profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.

Today’s price $

The assumptions Required return 9% Years to get there 10 Revenue growth 0%

Revenue, delivered4%/yr’20→’25

Mature owner-earnings margin 15%

Enter a price to run it.

Owner earnings it must reach—

Margin the price demands—

Owner-earnings margin today−8%

Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.

Weigh UTL against another business →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "UNITIL Corporation (UTL), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/UTL, data as of 2026-08-17.

Manual order: ← UTI its page in the Manual UTZ →

Industry order: ← SREA the Multi-Utilities chapter VIVO →