StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of UGI (NYSE:UGI – Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider's stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on UGI from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Bank of America cut UGI from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 23rd. TheStreet cut UGI from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on UGI from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and two have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $41.00.

UGI Stock Performance

Shares of UGI stock opened at $35.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a PE ratio of 39.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.80 and a 200-day moving average of $37.31. UGI has a one year low of $31.19 and a one year high of $44.54.

UGI (NYSE:UGI – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.81 billion. UGI had a return on equity of 11.76% and a net margin of 2.12%. UGI's revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that UGI will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current year.

UGI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 14th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. UGI's dividend payout ratio is currently 163.64%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UGI

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UGI. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of UGI by 35.2% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 16,028 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 4,176 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its stake in shares of UGI by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 13,366 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $484,000 after acquiring an additional 1,618 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of UGI by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 74,002 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,396 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of UGI by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,633 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,399,000 after acquiring an additional 7,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake in shares of UGI by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 173,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,489,000 after acquiring an additional 11,826 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About UGI

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UGI Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the distribution and marketing of energy products and services. It operates through the following segments: AmeriGas Propane, UGI International, Midstream and Marketing, and Utilities. The AmeriGas Propane segment consists of the propane distribution business of AmeriGas Partners, L.P.

Further Reading

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