Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) Shares Cross Below 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP)’s share price passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $5.91 and traded as low as $5.78. Ultrapar Participacoes shares last traded at $5.80, with a volume of 3,776,191 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on UGP. Weiss Ratings cut Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from $6.50 to $5.80 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $6.80 to $7.40 in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.54.

Ultrapar Participacoes Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $7.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a PE ratio of 9.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.71.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The oil and gas company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $8 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.18 billion. Ultrapar Participacoes had a return on equity of 18.84% and a net margin of 2.28%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ultrapar Participacoes Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th were issued a $0.1932 dividend. This represents a yield of 599.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 26th. Ultrapar Participacoes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ultrapar Participacoes

In other news, insider Pedro Guedes Rabelo sold 30,000 shares of Ultrapar Participacoes stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.58, for a total transaction of $227,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 57,898 shares in the company, valued at $438,866.84. This trade represents a 34.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andre Saleme Hachem sold 39,200 shares of Ultrapar Participacoes stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.67, for a total transaction of $300,664.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 25,675 shares in the company, valued at $196,927.25. This represents a 60.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 77,785 shares of company stock valued at $587,312 over the last 90 days. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ultrapar Participacoes

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its position in Ultrapar Participacoes by 419.7% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 257,957 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $1,295,000 after buying an additional 208,319 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 235.7% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 927,216 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $5,109,000 after acquiring an additional 650,988 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes during the second quarter worth about $6,704,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 10.6% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,740,700 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $20,611,000 after acquiring an additional 357,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes during the third quarter worth about $2,733,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.58% of the company’s stock.

About Ultrapar Participacoes

Ultrapar Participações SA is a Brazilian holding company whose businesses focus on fuel distribution, liquefied petroleum gas and transportation infrastructure. Through its subsidiaries, the company serves commercial, industrial, retail and residential customers, primarily in Brazil.

Ipiranga is Ultrapar’s fuel-distribution business, supplying gasoline, ethanol, diesel and other fuels through a network of service stations and commercial channels. Ultragaz distributes liquefied petroleum gas for household, commercial and industrial use, including bottled and bulk products.

Ultrapar also operates Ultracargo, a provider of liquid bulk storage and transportation infrastructure for fuels, chemicals and other products.