UTL Collar Strategy
UTL (Unitil Corporation), in the Utilities sector, (Diversified Utilities industry), listed on NYSE.
Unitil Corporation, a public utility holding company, engages in the distribution of electricity and natural gas. It operates through three segments: Utility Electric Operations, Utility Gas Operations, and Non-Regulated. 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 the greater Fitchburg area of north central Massachusetts. It also operates 86 miles of interstate underground natural gas transmission pipeline that provides interstate natural gas pipeline access and transportation services primarily in Maine and New Hampshire. In addition, the company provides energy brokering and advisory services to commercial and industrial customers; and real estate management services. It serves approximately 107,700 electric customers and 86,600 natural gas customers.
UTL (Unitil Corporation) trades in the Utilities sector, specifically Diversified Utilities, with a market capitalization of approximately $916.5M, a trailing P/E of 16.31, a beta of 0.33 versus the broader market, a 52-week range of 44.61-55.34, average daily share volume of 134K, a public-listing history dating back to 1985, approximately 565 full-time employees. These structural characteristics shape how UTL stock options price implied volatility around earnings windows, capital events, and macro-driven sector rotations.
A beta of 0.33 indicates UTL has historically moved less than the broader market, dampening realized volatility and producing tighter expected-move bands per unit of dollar exposure. UTL pays a dividend, which adjusts put-call parity and shifts the ex-dividend pricing across the listed chain.
What is a collar on UTL?
A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot.
Current UTL snapshot
As of May 15, 2026, spot at $50.47, ATM IV 31.10%, IV rank 5.15%, expected move 8.92%. The collar on UTL below is built from the same end-of-day chain, with strikes snapped to listed contracts and premiums pulled from the bid/ask midpoint at a 34-day expiry.
Why this collar structure on UTL specifically: IV regime affects collar pricing on both sides; compressed UTL IV at 31.10% typically pushes the short call premium to roughly offset the long put cost, with a market-implied 1-standard-deviation move of approximately 8.92% (roughly $4.50 on the underlying). The 34-day window matched to the front-month expiry keeps theta exposure bounded while still capturing the post-snapshot move; longer-dated UTL expiries trade a higher absolute premium for lower per-day decay. Position sizing on UTL should anchor to the underlying notional of $50.47 per share and to the trader's directional view on UTL stock.
UTL collar setup
The UTL collar below is built from the end-of-day chain, with each option leg priced at the bid/ask midpoint of its listed strike. With UTL near $50.47, the first option leg uses a $52.99 strike; additional legs (when the strategy has them) anchor to spot-relative offsets. Premiums come from the bid/ask midpoint on the listed UTL chain at a 34-day expiry; the cross-strike IV skew is reflected directly in the per-leg values rather than approximated. Quantity sizing assumes one contract per option leg (or 100 UTL shares for the stock leg in covered calls and collars).
| Action | Type | Strike / Basis | Premium (est) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 100 shares | Stock | $50.47 | long |
| Sell 1 | Call | $52.99 | N/A |
| Buy 1 | Put | $47.95 | N/A |
UTL collar risk and reward
- Net Premium / Debit
- N/A
- Max Profit (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Max Loss (per contract)
- Unbounded
- Breakeven(s)
- None on modeled curve
- Risk / Reward Ratio
- N/A
Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium.
UTL collar payoff curve
Modeled P&L at expiration across a range of underlying prices for the collar on UTL. Each row is one sampled price point from the computed payoff curve; the full curve uses 200 price points internally before being summarized into 10 rows here.
When traders use collar on UTL
Collars on UTL hedge an existing long UTL stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
UTL thesis for this collar
The market-implied 1-standard-deviation range for UTL extends from approximately $45.97 on the downside to $54.97 on the upside. A UTL collar hedges an existing long UTL position with a protective put while financing the put cost via a short call; when the premiums roughly offset, the collar acts as a near-zero-cost insurance band around the current spot. Current UTL IV rank near 5.15% sits in the lower third of its 1-year distribution, where IV often re-expands toward the mean; this favors premium-buying structures and disadvantages premium-selling structures on UTL at 31.10%. As a Utilities name, UTL options can move on sector-level news flow (peer earnings, regulatory updates, industry-specific macro data) in addition to UTL-specific events.
UTL collar positions are structurally neutral (protective); the modeled P&L assumes European-style exercise at expiration and ignores early assignment, transaction costs, dividends paid before expiry on the stock leg (when present), and the bid-ask spread on the listed chain. UTL positions also carry Utilities sector concentration risk; news flow inside the sector (peer earnings, regulatory shifts, supply-chain headlines) can move UTL alongside the broader basket even when UTL-specific fundamentals are unchanged. Always rebuild the position from current UTL chain quotes before placing a trade.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a collar on UTL?
- A collar on UTL is the collar strategy applied to UTL (stock). The strategy is structurally neutral (protective): A collar pairs long stock with a protective out-of-the-money put financed by a short out-of-the-money call, capping both tails of the position around the current spot. With UTL stock trading near $50.47, the strikes shown on this page are snapped to the nearest listed UTL chain strike and the premiums come straight from the end-of-day bid/ask midpoint.
- How are UTL collar max profit and max loss calculated?
- Max profit roughly equals short-call strike minus cost basis plus net premium; max loss roughly equals cost basis minus long-put strike minus net premium. Breakeven shifts by the net premium. For the UTL collar priced from the end-of-day chain at a 30-day expiry (ATM IV 31.10%), the computed maximum profit is unbounded per contract and the computed maximum loss is unbounded per contract. Live intraday quotes will differ as the chain moves through the trading session.
- What is the breakeven for a UTL collar?
- The breakeven for the UTL collar priced on this page is no defined breakeven on the modeled curve at expiration, derived from end-of-day chain premiums. Breakeven is the underlying price at which the strategy's P&L crosses zero ignoring transaction costs and assignment risk. The current UTL market-implied 1-standard-deviation expected move is approximately 8.92%; if the move sits well outside the breakeven distance, the structure's risk-reward becomes correspondingly tighter.
- When should you consider a collar on UTL?
- Collars on UTL hedge an existing long UTL stock position; the long put sets a floor while the short call finances it, often run as a near-zero-cost hedge during expected volatility windows.
- How does current UTL implied volatility affect this collar?
- UTL ATM IV is at 31.10% with IV rank near 5.15%, which is on the low end of its 1-year range. Premium-buying structures (long call, long put, debit spreads) are relatively cheap in this regime; premium-selling structures collect less credit per unit risk.