Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on UGI (NYSE:UGI)

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of UGI (NYSE:UGI) in a research note published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $28.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on UGI. Mizuho upgraded shares of UGI from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of UGI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of UGI from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.33.

UGI Stock Up 15.1 %

Shares of UGI stock opened at $28.52 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.00 and a beta of 1.13. UGI has a 12 month low of $21.51 and a 12 month high of $28.66.

UGI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.26%. UGI’s payout ratio is currently 120.97%.

Institutional Trading of UGI

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in UGI by 2,402.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 25,005 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in UGI during the second quarter worth about $2,088,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in UGI by 12.6% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 578,469 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,247,000 after purchasing an additional 64,755 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in UGI by 5.4% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 548,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,450,000 after purchasing an additional 28,000 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of UGI by 945.9% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 51,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,283,000 after buying an additional 46,377 shares during the period. 82.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About UGI

UGI Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, distributes, stores, transports, and markets energy products and related services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: AmeriGas Propane, UGI International, Midstream & Marketing, and UGI Utilities. It distributes propane to approximately 1.3 million residential, commercial/industrial, motor fuel, agricultural, and wholesale customers through 1,400 propane distribution locations.