Yousif Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Unilever PLC $UL

Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) by 8.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,663 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,260 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Unilever were worth $1,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in UL. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Unilever by 33.2% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 934,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,668,000 after acquiring an additional 232,945 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Unilever by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,100,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,673,381,000 after purchasing an additional 3,421,054 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Unilever by 69.7% in the 1st quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 14,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $850,000 after purchasing an additional 5,867 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Unilever by 65.1% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 232,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,821,000 after purchasing an additional 91,511 shares during the period. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. increased its position in shares of Unilever by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 15,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $895,000 after purchasing an additional 6,220 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Unilever Stock Performance

Shares of UL stock opened at $63.18 on Monday. Unilever PLC has a fifty-two week low of $54.32 and a fifty-two week high of $65.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.40.

Unilever Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Unilever’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Unilever’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.