UGI (NYSE:UGI) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell”

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of UGI (NYSE:UGI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded UGI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (down from $45.00) on shares of UGI in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on UGI from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.00.

UGI Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:UGI opened at $35.38 on Friday. UGI has a fifty-two week low of $31.62 and a fifty-two week high of $41.34. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 0.93.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. UGI had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 12.80%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that UGI will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UGI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. UGI’s payout ratio is presently 50.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UGI news, insider Kathleen Shea-Ballay sold 25,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $852,603.20. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings 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 worth $93,824,000 after purchasing an additional 2,568,817 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of UGI during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $73,069,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in UGI by 75.7% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,335,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,130,000 after acquiring an additional 575,239 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in UGI in the 2nd quarter valued at $12,408,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in UGI in the 2nd quarter worth $11,308,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.34% of the company’s stock.

About UGI

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.