Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Invests $1.46 Million in UGI Corporation $UGI

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in UGI Corporation, purchasing 44,000 shares valued at approximately $1.455 million during the first quarter of the year.
• UGI shares are currently rated as a Moderate Buy by analysts, with a target price of $31.33, following various adjustments from research firms.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.375, resulting in an annualized yield of 4.3%, with the dividend payout ratio currently at 78.95%.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in shares of UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 44,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,455,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in UGI by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,329,247 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $65,754,000 after buying an additional 120,819 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in UGI by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 207,251 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,852,000 after buying an additional 4,636 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in UGI by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,002,419 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,988,000 after buying an additional 703,491 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its holdings in UGI by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 40,270 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,137,000 after buying an additional 8,362 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in UGI by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 23,218 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $655,000 after buying an additional 6,210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UGI has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of UGI to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of UGI from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of UGI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.33.

UGI Stock Performance

NYSE UGI traded up $0.01 on Monday, reaching $34.62. 1,500,842 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,819,806. The firm has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.42. UGI Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $23.14 and a fifty-two week high of $37.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.70.

UGI (NYSE:UGI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion. UGI had a net margin of 5.70% and a return on equity of 15.73%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that UGI Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UGI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. UGI's payout ratio is currently 78.95%.

UGI Company Profile

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.