7,620 Shares in UGI Co. (NYSE:UGI) Acquired by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in UGI Co. (NYSE:UGI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 7,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UGI. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of UGI by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,418,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,660,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,878 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in UGI by 2,050.9% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 2,375,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,067,000 after buying an additional 2,265,300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in UGI by 33.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,762,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,246,000 after buying an additional 1,202,938 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of UGI by 112.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,025,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,383,000 after buying an additional 1,073,013 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of UGI by 47.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,503,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,630,000 after acquiring an additional 808,113 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on UGI. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of UGI from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho raised shares of UGI from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of UGI in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.33.

UGI Price Performance

NYSE UGI opened at $30.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.48 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.72. UGI Co. has a 52-week low of $22.01 and a 52-week high of $30.66.

UGI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. UGI’s dividend payout ratio is 120.97%.

UGI 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.