UGI (NYSE:UGI) Raised to Strong-Buy at Scotiabank

UGI (NYSE:UGI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Scotiabank to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on UGI. Zacks Research downgraded shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings cut UGI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded UGI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised UGI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on UGI from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UGI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.80.

UGI Stock Performance

Shares of UGI stock opened at $36.12 on Tuesday. UGI has a 12 month low of $31.62 and a 12 month high of $41.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.11.

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 business had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that UGI will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of UGI by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,191,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,456,000 after acquiring an additional 327,511 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in UGI in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $73,069,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in UGI by 75.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 575,239 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its stake in UGI by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 1,302,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,985,000 after purchasing an additional 18,808 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of UGI by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,057,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,539,000 after purchasing an additional 103,470 shares in the last quarter. 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.