UGI (NYSE:UGI) Stock Rating Upgraded by Scotiabank

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

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Huntington initiated coverage on shares of UGI in a report on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of UGI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Zacks Research cut UGI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded UGI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised UGI from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.80.

UGI Price Performance

UGI opened at $36.12 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.94. UGI has a 52-week low of $31.62 and a 52-week high of $41.34.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) 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 company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. As a group, analysts predict that UGI will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of UGI by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of UGI by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 143,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,967,000 after purchasing an additional 11,032 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of UGI by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,115,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,069,000 after purchasing an additional 228,187 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in UGI by 20.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares during the period. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its holdings in UGI by 114.6% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 15,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 8,100 shares during the period. 82.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.