UGI (NYSE:UGI) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

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

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Huntington began coverage on shares of UGI in a research report on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of UGI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of UGI in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.80.

UGI Stock Performance

Shares of UGI stock opened at $37.64 on Friday. UGI has a one year low of $31.62 and a one year high of $41.34. The company has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.93. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.14.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that UGI will post 2.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UGI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a $0.3750 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. UGI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UGI

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of UGI. Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new stake in shares of UGI during the 3rd quarter worth $398,000. Vista Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of UGI during the 3rd quarter worth $662,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. grew its stake in shares of UGI by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 3,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its holdings in shares of UGI by 349.4% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 4,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of UGI by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.34% of the company’s stock.

About UGI

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.