Stonebridge Financial Group LLC Purchases New Stake in UGI Co. (NYSE:UGI)

Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UGI Co. (NYSE:UGI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $59,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of UGI by 42.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,418,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $235,660,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,878 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in UGI by 2,050.9% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 2,375,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,067,000 after purchasing an additional 2,265,300 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of UGI by 33.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,762,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202,938 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of UGI by 47.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,503,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,630,000 after purchasing an additional 808,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of UGI by 105.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,507,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,712,000 after purchasing an additional 774,770 shares during the last quarter. 82.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

UGI Stock Performance

Shares of UGI opened at $32.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.28 and a 200 day moving average of $26.37. The company has a market capitalization of $6.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.21. UGI Co. has a 12 month low of $22.01 and a 12 month high of $32.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

UGI (NYSE:UGI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.16. UGI had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 7.73%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that UGI Co. will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

UGI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. UGI’s payout ratio is 59.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UGI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on UGI in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Mizuho upgraded shares of UGI from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $27.00 to $30.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.33.

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.