Raymond James & Associates Purchases 114,510 Shares of Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL)

Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,769,807 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 114,510 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.11% of Unilever worth $139,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Red Tortoise LLC bought a new position in shares of Unilever during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Unilever during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Unilever by 111.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Unilever during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Unilever by 215.1% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 9.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on UL shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Unilever from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Unilever from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Unilever has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.00.

Unilever Stock Up 0.7 %

UL traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $51.87. 3,005,628 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,896,179. Unilever PLC has a 1-year low of $46.16 and a 1-year high of $55.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $49.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.61. The stock has a market cap of $129.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a PEG ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.45.

Unilever Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.4556 dividend. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Unilever’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.83%.

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.