Empowered Funds LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in UGI Corporation $UGI

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its stake in UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI) by 30.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 142,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 61,096 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in UGI were worth $4,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,568,817 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in shares of UGI in the 2nd quarter worth $73,069,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of UGI by 75.7% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,335,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,130,000 after acquiring an additional 575,239 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of UGI in the second quarter valued at about $12,408,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UGI in the second quarter valued at about $11,308,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.34% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UGI news, insider Kathleen Shea-Ballay sold 25,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.62, for a total value of $852,603.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 25,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $852,603.20. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

UGI Price Performance

UGI stock opened at $38.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.21 and a 200-day moving average of $36.12. The company has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. UGI Corporation has a 12-month low of $31.62 and a 12-month high of $41.34.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.12). UGI had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 9.20%.The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that UGI Corporation will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UGI Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on UGI shares. Zacks Research cut shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered UGI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded UGI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on UGI from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UGI has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.00.

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.