UGI’s (UGI) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

UGI (NYSE:UGI)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $40.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 7.71% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of UGI in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.00.

UGI Stock Performance

UGI traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 475,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,836,066. UGI has a 52 week low of $31.62 and a 52 week high of $41.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $36.97 and its 200-day moving average is $36.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69 and a beta of 1.05.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by ($0.24). UGI had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 14.46%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that UGI will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UGI news, CAO Jean Felix Tematio sold 12,840 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.07, for a total transaction of $488,818.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 6,952 shares in the company, valued at $264,662.64. This trade represents a 64.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in UGI by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,191,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,456,000 after buying an additional 327,511 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in UGI by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 930,787 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,781,000 after buying an additional 116,372 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in UGI by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 785,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,971,000 after buying an additional 115,409 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in UGI by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 227,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,514,000 after buying an additional 18,652 shares during the period. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. increased its position in shares of UGI by 9.2% in the first quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 180,398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,570,000 after purchasing an additional 15,211 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.34% of the company’s stock.

About UGI

UGI Corporation (NYSE: UGI) is a publicly traded energy distribution company headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1882 as the United Gas Improvement Company, UGI has grown into a diversified provider of energy products and services. The company’s operations are organized into three primary segments—AmeriGas Propane, UGI Utilities and UGI International—each focused on the delivery of propane, natural gas and related services to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

AmeriGas Propane, UGI’s largest segment, is the leading retail propane distributor in the United States with a network of dealers serving customers in all 50 states.