Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC Acquires New Shares in Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL)

Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC acquired a new stake in Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 15,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $880,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SpiderRock Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Unilever by 24.0% during the third quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC now owns 41,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,727,000 after buying an additional 8,111 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Unilever by 6.4% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Unilever by 14.1% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $612,000 after buying an additional 1,163 shares during the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Unilever by 100.0% during the third quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 6,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 3,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Unilever by 51.6% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 305,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,869,000 after buying an additional 104,071 shares during the last quarter. 9.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Unilever Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Unilever stock opened at $59.24 on Monday. Unilever PLC has a 52 week low of $46.46 and a 52 week high of $65.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.97, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.47.

Unilever Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.4674 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.87 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. Unilever’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on UL. StockNews.com raised shares of Unilever from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. DZ Bank raised shares of Unilever from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Unilever in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Unilever from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Unilever from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.33.

Unilever Company Profile

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.