Huntington Begins Coverage on UGI (NYSE:UGI)

Research analysts at Huntington started coverage on shares of UGI (NYSE:UGI) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Huntington’s price objective points to a potential upside of 41.84% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on UGI. Weiss Ratings downgraded UGI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on UGI from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research cut UGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded UGI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UGI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.75.

UGI Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE UGI traded up $0.08 on Monday, hitting $38.07. 32,249 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,899,955. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. UGI has a twelve month low of $31.62 and a twelve month high of $41.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.78 and a 200 day moving average of $36.11. The company has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.94.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. As a group, analysts expect that UGI will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Kathleen Shea-Ballay sold 25,360 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider directly owned 25,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $852,603.20. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in UGI by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of UGI by 80.1% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of UGI by 45.6% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,268 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in UGI by 36.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of UGI by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. 82.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

UGI Company Profile

UGI Corporation (NYSE: UGI) is an energy company headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1882, the company operates through businesses that distribute and market natural gas, electricity, propane and other energy products.

Through UGI Utilities, the company provides regulated natural gas and electric service to customers in parts of Pennsylvania and regulated natural gas service in parts of Maryland. UGI also operates energy marketing, midstream and storage businesses that supply natural gas and related services to residential, commercial, industrial and wholesale customers.

UGI is also involved in propane distribution through AmeriGas, which serves customers across the United States, and through international propane operations serving customers in parts of Europe.