StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Unilever (NYSE:UL)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Unilever (NYSE:UL – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the stock.

Separately, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Unilever from a market perform rating to an underperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Unilever Price Performance

UL opened at $49.15 on Thursday. Unilever has a 1 year low of $42.44 and a 1 year high of $52.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.28.

Unilever Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.4569 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 23rd. This represents a $1.83 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. This is a positive change from Unilever’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Institutional Trading of Unilever

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pendal Group Ltd increased its stake in shares of Unilever by 81.5% in the fourth quarter. Pendal Group Ltd now owns 10,061,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $508,643,000 after buying an additional 4,518,649 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Unilever by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 7,727,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $389,061,000 after buying an additional 758,405 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Unilever by 10.7% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,687,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,322,000 after buying an additional 744,885 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of Unilever by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 5,853,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $294,744,000 after buying an additional 144,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Unilever by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,042,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,988,000 after purchasing an additional 28,870 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 10.06% of the company’s stock.

About Unilever

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Unilever Plc engages in the manufacture and sale of consumer goods. It operates through the following segments: Beauty and Personal Care, Foods and Refreshment, and Home Care. The Beauty and Personal Care segment offers skin cleansing, hair care, skin care, and deodorants categories. The Foods and Refreshment segment sells ice cream, savory, dressings, and tea.