HSBC Downgrades Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) to Hold

Key Points

• HSBC downgraded Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) from "buy" to "hold" and set a $6.00 price target, implying only about a 4.8% upside from the current price.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed—Goldman Sachs and Weiss trimmed ratings while Jefferies moved to hold—and the MarketBeat consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with a $5.67 average target and a split of two Strong Buy and four Hold ratings.
• UGP opened at $5.73 (near its 52-week high of $5.74) and has a $6.39B market cap and 14.31 P/E; last quarter it reported $0.05 EPS on $6.19B revenue, and several large institutions (Goldman, JPM, Renaissance, UBS) materially increased positions.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at HSBC from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Finviz reports. They currently have a $6.00 price objective on the oil and gas company's stock. HSBC's price target would indicate a potential upside of 4.80% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $5.40 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $3.10 to $5.60 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5.67.

Ultrapar Participacoes Price Performance

UGP opened at $5.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.76. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $5.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.40. Ultrapar Participacoes has a 52-week low of $2.70 and a 52-week high of $5.74.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $6.19 billion for the quarter. Ultrapar Participacoes had a net margin of 1.72% and a return on equity of 14.11%. As a group, analysts predict that Ultrapar Participacoes will post 0.3 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ultrapar Participacoes

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,214,612 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $15,889,000 after purchasing an additional 2,087,852 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 117.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,084,186 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $16,745,000 after purchasing an additional 2,205,282 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $14,639,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,382,778 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $12,753,000 after purchasing an additional 807,178 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 131.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,890,033 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $11,849,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,562 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 3.58% of the company's stock.

About Ultrapar Participacoes

Ultrapar Participações SA is a Brazilian diversified holding company operating in the downstream energy and chemical sectors. Its Ipiranga unit runs one of Brazil's largest networks of fuel stations, supplying gasoline, ethanol, diesel and convenience-store products to retail and wholesale customers. Through Ultragaz, the company is a leading distributor of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), offering cylinder and bulk gas solutions for residential, commercial and industrial use across urban and rural regions.

In the specialty chemicals arena, Ultrapar controls Oxiteno, which produces surfactants and specialty chemical formulations for industries such as personal care, oil and gas, agrochemicals and coatings.

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