Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Stock Position in Ultrapar Participações S.A. (NYSE:UGP)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in shares of Ultrapar Participações S.A. (NYSE:UGP) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 135,500 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 135,500 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Ultrapar Participações were worth $354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in UGP. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ultrapar Participações by 26.0% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 48,712 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $189,000 after buying an additional 10,037 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ultrapar Participações in the third quarter worth about $452,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ultrapar Participações by 194.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 159,142 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 105,133 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ultrapar Participações by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,811,400 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,764,000 after buying an additional 115,600 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ultrapar Participações in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $374,000. 3.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ultrapar Participações Trading Down 1.6 %

Ultrapar Participações stock opened at $3.15 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3.02. Ultrapar Participações S.A. has a 12 month low of $2.53 and a 12 month high of $5.37. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.10.

Ultrapar Participações Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.0774 dividend. This represents a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Ultrapar Participações’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on UGP shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Ultrapar Participações from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ultrapar Participações from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ultrapar Participações from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $4.10 to $3.20 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC upgraded Ultrapar Participações from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3.20.

Ultrapar Participações Profile

Ultrapar Participações SA, through its subsidiaries, operates in the energy and infrastructure business in Brazil. The company distributes liquefied petroleum gas to residential, commercial, and industrial consumers, in addition to renewable electricity and compressed natural gas. It also operates in the distribution and marketing of gasoline, ethanol, diesel, fuel oil, kerosene, natural gas for vehicles, and lubricants; and holds AmPm convenience stores and provides JetOil lubricant services.