Advisors Preferred LLC Purchases Shares of 47,770 UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI)

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 47,770 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,600,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in shares of UGI in the first quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in UGI in the first quarter valued at approximately $413,000. Loudon Investment Management LLC bought a new position in UGI in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,756,000. Horizon Investment Services LLC bought a new position in UGI in the first quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in UGI by 35.6% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 596,811 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $19,737,000 after acquiring an additional 156,658 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on UGI. Wall Street Zen cut shares of UGI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of UGI from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th.

UGI Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE UGI traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $36.02. 1,560,350 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,975,575. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.46. The company has a market capitalization of $7.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.05. UGI Corporation has a 12 month low of $23.09 and a 12 month high of $37.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

UGI (NYSE:UGI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $2.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.26 billion. UGI had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 16.21%. The firm's revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that UGI Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

UGI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. UGI's dividend payout ratio is currently 61.73%.

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.