Sanctuary Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in UGI Corporation $UGI

Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 268,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,285,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.13% of UGI at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of UGI by 34,940.4% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,576,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,824,000 after purchasing an additional 2,568,817 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of UGI by 75.7% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,335,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,130,000 after purchasing an additional 575,239 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of UGI during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $10,515,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in UGI by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 930,787 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,781,000 after buying an additional 116,372 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $25,971,000 after buying an additional 115,409 shares during the period. 82.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (down from $45.00) on shares of UGI in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of UGI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of UGI from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.00.

UGI Price Performance

Shares of UGI stock opened at $38.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.11. UGI Corporation has a one year low of $31.62 and a one year high of $41.34.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. UGI had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 12.80%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that UGI Corporation will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

UGI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. UGI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UGI news, insider Kathleen Shea-Ballay sold 25,360 shares of UGI stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.62, for a total transaction of $852,603.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $852,603.20. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

UGI Profile

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.