Prospera Financial Services Inc Makes New Investment in Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. $UGP

Prospera Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 187,807 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $708,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UGP. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ultrapar Participacoes by 10.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 70,838 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 6,947 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 75.2% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,878,904 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $6,163,000 after buying an additional 806,463 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 100.8% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 22,832 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 11,461 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 80.9% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 177,847 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $583,000 after buying an additional 79,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 26.6% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 66,997 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 14,060 shares in the last quarter. 3.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ultrapar Participacoes Stock Performance

NYSE UGP opened at $5.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.35, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.77. Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. has a twelve month low of $2.80 and a twelve month high of $6.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $6.19 billion during the quarter. Ultrapar Participacoes had a return on equity of 16.54% and a net margin of 2.04%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UGP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $3.10 to $5.60 in a report on Friday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.40 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 5th. HSBC downgraded shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $4.90 to $6.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Ultrapar Participacoes in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $7.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

About Ultrapar Participacoes

Ultrapar Participações SA is a Brazilian diversified holding company operating in the downstream energy and chemical sectors. Its Ipiranga unit runs one of Brazil’s largest networks of fuel stations, supplying gasoline, ethanol, diesel and convenience-store products to retail and wholesale customers. Through Ultragaz, the company is a leading distributor of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), offering cylinder and bulk gas solutions for residential, commercial and industrial use across urban and rural regions.

In the specialty chemicals arena, Ultrapar controls Oxiteno, which produces surfactants and specialty chemical formulations for industries such as personal care, oil and gas, agrochemicals and coatings.