Just like last year Unitil Corporation (UTL) will raise its quarterly dividend by 1.4 percent, this time to $0.37 per share, marking the utility holding company's 5th consecutive year of dividend hikes.

The next dividend is payable February 28, 2019, to shareholders of record on February 14, 2019.

“We understand the importance of the dividend to our shareholders. Today we are pleased to report that once again we’ve increased our quarterly dividend rate. This reflects the continued confidence we have in our growth plan,” said Thomas P. Meissner, Jr., Unitil’s chairman, president, and chief executive officer.

UUnitil Corporation is a utility holding company. Unitil’s principal business is the local distribution of electricity and natural gas to customers throughout its service territories in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. Unitil is the parent company of three wholly-owned distribution utilities: Unitil Energy, Fitchburg and Northern Utilities. Unitil has an unbroken record of continuously paying quarterly cash dividends and has never decreased the dividend on its common stock.