EP Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) by 18.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,649 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,428 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Unilever were worth $1,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of UL. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in Unilever by 1,866.0% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,135,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,451,000 after acquiring an additional 2,027,221 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased 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 valued at $134,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,216 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Unilever by 249.5% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,748,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248,136 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Unilever by 598.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,301,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,114,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Unilever by 7.1% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 16,726,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,086,547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114,177 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on UL. Bank of America raised Unilever from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $47.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Unilever from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Unilever in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Unilever currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.75.

Unilever Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE UL opened at $58.73 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.06. Unilever PLC has a twelve month low of $46.46 and a twelve month high of $65.87.

Unilever Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.4755 dividend. This is a positive change from Unilever’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%.

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.