Foster & Motley Inc. Has $4.82 Million Stock Holdings in UGI Corporation $UGI

Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI) by 10.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 145,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,892 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in UGI were worth $4,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in UGI. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in UGI by 26.7% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 208,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,945,000 after purchasing an additional 44,024 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of UGI by 2,455.7% in the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 3,217 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of UGI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in UGI by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in UGI by 34,940.4% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,576,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,824,000 after acquiring an additional 2,568,817 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.34% of the company’s stock.

UGI Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE UGI opened at $36.82 on Thursday. UGI Corporation has a 1-year low of $27.85 and a 1-year high of $39.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.35. The company has a market cap of $7.91 billion, a PE ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 21st. The utilities provider reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.21. UGI had a net margin of 9.30% and a return on equity of 15.07%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.27) earnings per share. UGI’s revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that UGI Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UGI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. UGI’s dividend payout ratio is 48.23%.

Insider Transactions at UGI

In related news, insider Joseph L. Hartz sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.68, for a total value of $580,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 33,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,295,470.56. This trade represents a 30.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on UGI shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on UGI from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of UGI in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of UGI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of UGI in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of UGI in a report on Monday, December 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UGI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

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.