Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Purchases 84,375 Shares of UGI Co. (NYSE:UGI)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UGI Co. (NYSE:UGI - Free Report) by 128.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 150,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 84,375 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC owned about 0.07% of UGI worth $4,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UGI by 33.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,762,970 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $127,246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,202,938 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in UGI by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,503,214 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $62,630,000 after acquiring an additional 808,113 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in UGI by 2,050.9% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 2,375,752 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $67,067,000 after purchasing an additional 2,265,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in UGI by 105.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,507,263 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,712,000 after purchasing an additional 774,770 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on UGI shares. Mizuho raised UGI from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of UGI from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of UGI in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.33.

UGI Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of UGI stock traded up $1.05 on Thursday, hitting $30.86. 705,485 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,766,346. The company has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87 and a beta of 1.21. UGI Co. has a one year low of $22.01 and a one year high of $30.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $28.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.87.

UGI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. UGI's payout ratio is 120.97%.

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.