Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Buys 204 Shares of Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its position in shares of Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,327 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Unilever were worth $302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Unilever by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 16,726,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,086,547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,177 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Unilever by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,384,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,145,000 after purchasing an additional 911,443 shares in the last quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management boosted its holdings in shares of Unilever by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 2,767,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,169,000 after buying an additional 22,325 shares during the last quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Unilever by 7.9% in the third quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 2,667,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,273,000 after buying an additional 194,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Unilever by 981.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,076,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,216 shares in the last quarter. 9.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Unilever from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Unilever in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered Unilever from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Unilever currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.75.

Unilever Price Performance

NYSE UL traded down $0.72 on Friday, reaching $55.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,077,659 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,943,376. The company has a market cap of $137.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $58.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.30. Unilever PLC has a 1-year low of $46.46 and a 1-year high of $65.87.

Unilever Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.4755 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. This is an increase from Unilever’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Unilever’s payout ratio is currently 56.63%.

About Unilever

Unilever PLC operates as a fast-moving consumer goods company in the Asia Pacific, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through five segments: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Nutrition, and Ice Cream. The Beauty & Wellbeing segment engages in the sale of hair care products, such as shampoo, conditioner, and styling; skin care products including face, hand, and body moisturizer; and prestige beauty and health & wellbeing products consist of the vitamins, minerals, and supplements.