Wells Fargo & Company Raises UGI (NYSE:UGI) Price Target to $27.00

UGI (NYSE:UGI) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $26.00 to $27.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of UGI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

UGI Price Performance

Shares of UGI stock opened at $25.15 on Wednesday. UGI has a 52-week low of $20.19 and a 52-week high of $26.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.06 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.32 and a 200-day moving average of $24.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.91.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.12. UGI had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 15.65%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that UGI will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.

UGI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.96%. UGI’s payout ratio is currently 48.08%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UGI

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in UGI by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,897,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $661,669,000 after buying an additional 625,128 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its position in UGI by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 3,746,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,962,000 after buying an additional 45,630 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in UGI by 28.7% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,537,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,014,000 after buying an additional 788,457 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in UGI by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,024,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,267,000 after buying an additional 356,200 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in UGI by 84.9% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,445,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,991,000 after buying an additional 1,122,766 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.34% of the company’s stock.

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.