UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI) Shares Sold by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council lowered its stake in UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI - Free Report) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 117,233 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 11,624 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council owned 0.05% of UGI worth $3,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UGI. FMR LLC increased its holdings in UGI by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,529,202 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $325,469,000 after buying an additional 2,110,337 shares during the last quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P boosted its stake in UGI by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P now owns 5,126,709 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $144,727,000 after buying an additional 78,327 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of UGI by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,058,998 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $157,200,000 after purchasing an additional 296,028 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in UGI by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,962,740 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $140,098,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of UGI by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,002,419 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,988,000 after acquiring an additional 703,491 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UGI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of UGI from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of UGI from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th.

UGI Stock Up 0.9%

UGI stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.34. 1,269,847 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,054,567. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. UGI Corporation has a 52-week low of $23.09 and a 52-week high of $36.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.95, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.26.

UGI (NYSE:UGI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.80 by $0.41. UGI had a return on equity of 16.21% and a net margin of 7.28%. The business had revenue of $2.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.97 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. UGI's payout ratio is 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.