UGI (NYSE:UGI) Stock Rating Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Scotiabank

Scotiabank upgraded shares of UGI (NYSE:UGI) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on UGI. Weiss Ratings cut UGI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Zacks Research downgraded UGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Huntington began coverage on UGI in a research note on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised UGI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.80.

UGI Stock Performance

Shares of UGI opened at $36.12 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $37.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.11. The stock has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.94. UGI has a 52 week low of $31.62 and a 52 week high of $41.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last issued its quarterly 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). UGI had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 12.80%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that UGI will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UGI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.3750 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. UGI’s payout ratio is currently 50.17%.

Institutional Trading of UGI

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MSH Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in UGI during the 2nd quarter worth $1,961,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of UGI in the second quarter valued at about $1,949,000. Private Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in UGI by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,057,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,539,000 after acquiring an additional 103,470 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in UGI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $73,069,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of UGI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,665,000. Institutional investors own 82.34% of the company’s stock.

UGI Company Profile

UGI Corporation is a diversified energy company headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Through its subsidiaries, the company distributes and markets natural gas, propane, electricity and related energy products to residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers.

UGI Utilities operates regulated natural gas and electric distribution businesses in Pennsylvania and provides natural gas, electric and related services to customers in the region. The company also owns AmeriGas, one of the largest retail propane distributors in the United States, serving households, businesses, agricultural customers and other end users through a nationwide distribution network.

UGI has additional energy operations in Europe through its international LPG businesses and participates in energy marketing, midstream and related activities.