Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Acquires New Stake in UGI Co. (NYSE:UGI)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of UGI Co. (NYSE:UGI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 75,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,142,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Easterly Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in UGI by 0.8% during the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 59,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Hourglass Capital LLC grew its holdings in UGI by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Hourglass Capital LLC now owns 82,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,330,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc. grew its holdings in UGI by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 37,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,050,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in UGI by 0.4% during the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 110,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in UGI by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.34% of the company’s stock.

UGI Trading Up 0.3 %

UGI opened at $33.39 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $30.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.93. The company has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.14, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.21. UGI Co. has a 52 week low of $22.01 and a 52 week high of $33.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44.

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 15.19% and a net margin of 7.73%. Analysts forecast that UGI Co. will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

UGI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. UGI’s payout ratio is 59.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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 raised UGI from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th.

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.