Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $5.68 and last traded at $5.6450, with a volume of 2443048 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $5.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on UGP. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ultrapar Participacoes from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $3.10 to $5.60 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.40 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Ultrapar Participacoes from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.50.

Ultrapar Participacoes Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $6.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $6.19 billion during the quarter. Ultrapar Participacoes had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 1.72%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. will post 0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ultrapar Participacoes

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 98.2% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,214,612 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $15,889,000 after acquiring an additional 2,087,852 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 117.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,084,186 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $16,745,000 after acquiring an additional 2,205,282 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes during the third quarter valued at approximately $14,639,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,382,778 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $12,753,000 after acquiring an additional 807,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 131.9% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,890,033 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $11,849,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643,562 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 3.58% of the company’s stock.

Ultrapar Participacoes Company Profile

Ultrapar Participações SA is a Brazilian diversified holding company operating in the downstream energy and chemical sectors. Its Ipiranga unit runs one of Brazil’s largest networks of fuel stations, supplying gasoline, ethanol, diesel and convenience-store products to retail and wholesale customers. Through Ultragaz, the company is a leading distributor of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), offering cylinder and bulk gas solutions for residential, commercial and industrial use across urban and rural regions.

In the specialty chemicals arena, Ultrapar controls Oxiteno, which produces surfactants and specialty chemical formulations for industries such as personal care, oil and gas, agrochemicals and coatings.