Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Unilever PLC $UL

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. cut its stake in Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) by 7.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,585 shares of the company’s stock after selling 480 shares during the quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in Unilever were worth $340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Unilever by 2.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 114,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,998,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Unilever by 22.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 96,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,908,000 after purchasing an additional 17,667 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Unilever by 3.8% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 53,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,958 shares during the period. GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Unilever in the second quarter valued at $8,237,000. Finally, Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in Unilever in the second quarter valued at $465,000. 9.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on UL shares. Zacks Research raised Unilever from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. CICC Research started coverage on Unilever in a report on Thursday, August 21st. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Unilever in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Unilever in a report on Sunday, August 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.00.

Unilever Stock Performance

UL opened at $60.47 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.65. Unilever PLC has a one year low of $54.32 and a one year high of $65.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 0.40.

Unilever Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.5175 per share. This represents a $2.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from Unilever’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Unilever’s payout ratio is presently 59.31%.

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.