The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) Price Target to $5.80

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) had its price target lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $6.50 to $5.80 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the oil and gas company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America upgraded Ultrapar Participacoes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $6.80 to $7.40 in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ultrapar Participacoes from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Ultrapar Participacoes from $7.00 to $7.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.40.

Ultrapar Participacoes Stock Performance

Shares of UGP stock opened at $6.46 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $7.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.60. Ultrapar Participacoes has a 52 week low of $3.57 and a 52 week high of $6.80.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The oil and gas company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. Ultrapar Participacoes had a net margin of 2.28% and a return on equity of 18.84%. The firm had revenue of $8 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.18 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ultrapar Participacoes will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Ultrapar Participacoes Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.1932 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 26th. This represents a yield of 599.0%. Ultrapar Participacoes’s payout ratio is 50.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ultrapar Participacoes

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its position in Ultrapar Participacoes by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 62,497 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 1,651 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 2.8% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 64,807 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 1,784 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 45.0% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,383 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,982 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 0.7% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 450,668 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 3,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 19,210 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 4,688 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.58% of the company’s stock.

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.