Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $6.45, but opened at $6.70. Ultrapar Participacoes shares last traded at $6.6650, with a volume of 298,712 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UGP has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from $7.00 to $7.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Ultrapar Participacoes from $6.50 to $5.80 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Bank of America raised Ultrapar Participacoes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $6.80 to $7.40 in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ultrapar Participacoes from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.40.

Ultrapar Participacoes Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $7.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $6.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.62.

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

Ultrapar Participacoes Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Ultrapar Participacoes

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Ultrapar Participacoes by 42,357.3% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,147,914 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $8,098,000 after acquiring an additional 2,142,855 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 306.4% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,796,662 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $11,466,000 after buying an additional 2,108,543 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in 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. Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new position in Ultrapar Participacoes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,876,000. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 131.9% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,890,033 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $11,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643,562 shares during 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.