Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) Shares Pass Above 200-Day Moving Average - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Ultrapar shares passed above their 200-day moving average, trading as high as $6.02 and last at $5.9450 versus a 200‑day MA of $4.53, signaling a technical breakout.
• Analysts are mixed: the stock's average rating is "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $5.67—slightly below the current price—after several recent downgrades and some upgrades.
• The company has a market cap of $6.63B, a P/E of 14.86 and reported $6.19B in quarterly revenue with $0.05 EPS, while institutional investors like JPMorgan have significantly increased their holdings.

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP - Get Free Report) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $4.53 and traded as high as $6.02. Ultrapar Participacoes shares last traded at $5.9450, with a volume of 1,890,312 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UGP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut Ultrapar Participacoes from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. HSBC lowered Ultrapar Participacoes from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $4.90 to $6.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ultrapar Participacoes from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ultrapar Participacoes from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $3.10 to $5.60 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Ultrapar Participacoes from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $5.40 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5.67.

Ultrapar Participacoes Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.53.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter. Ultrapar Participacoes had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 1.72%.The firm had revenue of $6.19 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ultrapar Participacoes

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 117.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,084,186 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $16,745,000 after buying an additional 2,205,282 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,639,000. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,552,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG lifted its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 537,128 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $2,191,000 after buying an additional 125,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes during the 3rd quarter valued at about $796,000. 3.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ultrapar Participacoes Company Profile

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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