Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $6.00.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Ultrapar Participacoes in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $7.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ultrapar Participacoes from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $3.10 to $5.60 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings cut Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, HSBC lowered Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $4.90 to $6.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th.

Ultrapar Participacoes Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE UGP opened at $5.12 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $5.70 and its 200 day moving average is $4.88. Ultrapar Participacoes has a 52 week low of $2.80 and a 52 week high of $6.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.71.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. Ultrapar Participacoes had a net margin of 2.04% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The business had revenue of $6.19 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ultrapar Participacoes will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ultrapar Participacoes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UGP. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes during the third quarter valued at about $14,639,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Ultrapar Participacoes by 117.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,084,186 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $16,745,000 after acquiring an additional 2,205,282 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Ultrapar Participacoes by 42,357.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,147,914 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,098,000 after acquiring an additional 2,142,855 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 306.4% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,796,662 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $11,466,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108,543 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,214,612 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $15,889,000 after acquiring an additional 2,087,852 shares during the period. 3.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ultrapar Participacoes Company Profile

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.