Ieq Capital LLC Invests $1.03 Million in UGI Corporation $UGI

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 29,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,030,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MSH Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UGI during the second quarter worth $1,961,000. Csenge Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of UGI in the second quarter valued at about $1,014,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of UGI in the second quarter valued at about $3,537,000. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in UGI during the second quarter worth about $516,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in UGI by 75.7% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,335,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,130,000 after purchasing an additional 575,239 shares in the last quarter. 82.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on UGI. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of UGI from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings cut UGI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price target (down from $45.00) on shares of UGI in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen lowered UGI from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Zacks Research cut UGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.00.

UGI Stock Performance

NYSE UGI opened at $38.50 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.10. UGI Corporation has a 1 year low of $31.62 and a 1 year high of $41.34.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) EPS 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 firm had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that UGI Corporation will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UGI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. UGI’s payout ratio is 50.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UGI

In related news, insider Kathleen Shea-Ballay sold 25,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.62, for a total transaction of $852,603.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,360 shares in the company, valued at $852,603.20. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.