Bank of America Upgrades Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) to Buy

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) was upgraded by Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $7.40 price objective on the oil and gas company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $6.80. Bank of America‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 35.88% from the company’s previous close.

UGP has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $3.10 to $5.60 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ultrapar Participacoes in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. HSBC lowered Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $4.90 to $6.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from $7.00 to $7.20 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ultrapar Participacoes presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.32.

Ultrapar Participacoes Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Ultrapar Participacoes stock opened at $5.45 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $5.33 and its 200 day moving average is $5.05. Ultrapar Participacoes has a one year low of $2.80 and a one year high of $6.20. The firm has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of UGP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 117.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,084,186 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $16,745,000 after acquiring an additional 2,205,282 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Ultrapar Participacoes in the 3rd quarter worth about $14,639,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda grew its holdings in Ultrapar Participacoes by 350.7% during the 4th quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 874,882 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $3,298,000 after buying an additional 680,782 shares in the last quarter. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,631,000. Finally, Capital Innovations LLC bought a new position in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,528,000. 3.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.