Short Interest in Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP) Decreases By 53.5%

by · The Markets Daily

Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:UGP – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,675,114 shares, a decrease of 53.5% from the May 31st total of 3,604,343 shares. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,079,679 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Ultrapar Participacoes

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ultrapar Participacoes from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $3.10 to $5.60 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ultrapar Participacoes in a research note on Monday, June 8th. HSBC downgraded shares of 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. Wall Street Zen raised Ultrapar Participacoes from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ultrapar Participacoes from $7.00 to $7.20 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.20.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on UGP

Ultrapar Participacoes Stock Performance

Shares of UGP traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $5.02. The stock had a trading volume of 2,110,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,730,459. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.99. Ultrapar Participacoes has a fifty-two week low of $2.80 and a fifty-two week high of $6.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The oil and gas company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $6.19 billion during the quarter. Ultrapar Participacoes had a net margin of 2.04% and a return on equity of 16.54%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ultrapar Participacoes will post 0.55 EPS for the current year.

About Ultrapar Participacoes

(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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