Short Interest in Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP) Increases By 98.3%

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGPGet Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,879,904 shares, a growth of 98.3% from the April 30th total of 1,956,501 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,140,955 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ultrapar Participacoes in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. HSBC lowered shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $4.90 to $6.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $3.10 to $5.60 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ultrapar Participacoes has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Ultrapar Participacoes

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UGP. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ultrapar Participacoes by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 70,838 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 6,947 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ultrapar Participacoes by 75.2% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,878,904 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $6,163,000 after acquiring an additional 806,463 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Ultrapar Participacoes by 100.8% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 22,832 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 11,461 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ultrapar Participacoes by 80.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 177,847 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $583,000 after acquiring an additional 79,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Ultrapar Participacoes by 26.6% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 66,997 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $220,000 after acquiring an additional 14,060 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.58% of the company’s stock.

Ultrapar Participacoes Price Performance

UGP traded down $0.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $4.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,183,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,706,382. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.88. Ultrapar Participacoes has a 1 year low of $2.80 and a 1 year high of $6.20. The company has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.71.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGPGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. Ultrapar Participacoes had a net margin of 2.04% and a return on equity of 16.54%. The business had revenue of $6.19 billion for the quarter. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ultrapar Participacoes will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Ultrapar Participacoes Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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