UGI's (UGI) "Hold" Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Key Points

• Jefferies reiterated a Hold rating on UGI with a $40 price target (about 7.7% upside), while other analysts (including Weiss Ratings) maintain a Buy view and the consensus average target is $42, signaling mixed analyst sentiment.
• UGI reported quarterly results that missed expectations (EPS $1.26 vs. $1.50 expected; revenue $2.08B vs. $2.49B), and the stock traded down to $37.14 on the report.
• An insider (CAO Jean Felix Tematio) sold 12,840 shares, reducing their holding significantly, and institutional investors now own about 82.34% of the company with several funds recently increasing positions.

UGI (NYSE:UGI - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reissued by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $40.00 price objective on the utilities provider's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price target would indicate a potential upside of 7.71% from the company's previous close.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of UGI in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.00.

UGI Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE:UGI traded down $0.43 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.14. 475,992 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,836,066. UGI has a twelve month low of $31.62 and a twelve month high of $41.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.97 and a 200 day moving average of $36.88. The stock has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a PE ratio of 13.69 and a beta of 1.05.

UGI (NYSE:UGI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50 by ($0.24). UGI had a return on equity of 14.46% and a net margin of 8.17%.The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The company's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that UGI will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Jean Felix Tematio sold 12,840 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.07, for a total transaction of $488,818.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 6,952 shares in the company, valued at $264,662.64. This represents a 64.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UGI

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its stake in shares of UGI by 127.1% during the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 17,689 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 9,900 shares in the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. raised its stake in UGI by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 180,398 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,570,000 after acquiring an additional 15,211 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in UGI by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,733 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in UGI by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,191,444 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $119,456,000 after acquiring an additional 327,511 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in UGI in the 4th quarter valued at $2,708,000. Institutional investors own 82.34% of the company's stock.

UGI Company Profile

UGI Corporation NYSE: UGI is a publicly traded energy distribution company headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1882 as the United Gas Improvement Company, UGI has grown into a diversified provider of energy products and services. The company's operations are organized into three primary segments—AmeriGas Propane, UGI Utilities and UGI International—each focused on the delivery of propane, natural gas and related services to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

AmeriGas Propane, UGI's largest segment, is the leading retail propane distributor in the United States with a network of dealers serving customers in all 50 states.

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