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Here's Why You Should Add UGI Stock to Your Portfolio Right Now

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UGI Corporation’s (UGI - Free Report) strategic investment plans, which help upgrade and replace its aging infrastructure, boost its overall performance. Given its growth opportunities and strong return on equity (ROE), UGI makes for a solid investment option in the utility sector.

Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company a strong investment pick at the moment.

UGI’s Growth Projections & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2025 earnings per share (EPS) has moved up 1.3% in the past 90 days to $3.06.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales is pinned at $7.79 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 8%.  

UGI’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 5.2%. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 75.7%.

UGI’s Debt Position

Currently, UGI’s total debt to capital is 58.34%, better than the sector’s average of 59.9%.

The time-to-interest earned ratio at the end of the fiscal second quarter of 2025 was 2.5. The ratio, being greater than one, reflects the company’s ability to meet future interest obligations without difficulties.

Return on Equity of UGI

ROE indicates how efficiently a company has been utilizing the funds to generate higher returns. Currently, UGI’s ROE is 16.21%, higher than the industry’s average of 9.27%. This indicates that the company has been utilizing the funds more constructively than its peers in the utility gas distribution industry.

UGI’s Focus on Strategic Investments

UGI continues to make systematic capital investments to address various capital projects, increase the safety and reliability of natural gas production and storage facilities, and replace aging infrastructure to modernize the system. These additions and upgrades allow it to serve the expanding customer base efficiently. The company has added more than 6,600 residential heating and commercial customers to the Utilities year to date.

UGI invested $160 million in the fiscal second quarter to further strengthen its operations, with 79% invested in the natural gas businesses. It plans to invest $800-$900 million in fiscal 2025 to strengthen its operations, and $3.7-$4.1 billion through fiscal 2027.

UGI’s Dividend History

The consistently strong performance of the company has enabled it to reward its shareholders through annual dividend rate hikes. UGI has been paying dividends for the last 141 years. Currently, its quarterly dividend is 37.5 cents per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.50. The company’s current dividend yield of 4.29% is better than the industry’s average of 3.43%.

UGI’s Share Price Performance

In the past six months, shares of the company have risen 45.4% against the industry’s 3.8% decline.

 

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

A few other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are Southwest Gas (SWX - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and New Jersey Resources (NJR - Free Report) and Spire (SR - Free Report) , both holding a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

SWX’s long-term earnings growth rate is 9.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 18%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NJR’s fiscal 2025 EPS implies year-over-year growth of 8.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2025 sales indicates an increase of 4.1% from the top line reported in fiscal 2024.

SR’s long-term earnings growth rate is 6.54%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2025 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 8.7%.

 

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