Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP) Short Interest Update

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP) saw a significant increase in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 2,460,606 shares, an increase of 124.1% from the July 15th total of 1,097,793 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,876,192 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Ultrapar Participacoes

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 45.0% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,383 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,982 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Ultrapar Participacoes during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Ultrapar Participacoes in the first quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Ultrapar Participacoes in the first quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.58% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on UGP. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ultrapar Participacoes in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Bank of America raised Ultrapar Participacoes from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $6.80 to $7.40 in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ultrapar Participacoes from $7.00 to $7.20 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.32.

Ultrapar Participacoes Stock Up 0.1%

Ultrapar Participacoes stock opened at $6.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Ultrapar Participacoes has a 1-year low of $3.11 and a 1-year high of $6.59. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.48. The company has a market cap of $6.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.70.

Ultrapar Participacoes Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.1932 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 634.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 26th. Ultrapar Participacoes’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.00%.

About Ultrapar Participacoes

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.