Cetera Investment Advisers Buys 14,863 Shares of Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 226,017 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,863 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Unilever were worth $12,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Unilever in the fourth quarter worth $9,271,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Unilever during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,166,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Unilever by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 78,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after acquiring an additional 8,642 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Unilever during the fourth quarter worth about $4,167,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Unilever by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,906,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,317,000 after purchasing an additional 257,538 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.67% of the company’s stock.

Unilever Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE UL opened at $62.55 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.88. Unilever PLC has a 12-month low of $53.50 and a 12-month high of $65.87. The firm has a market cap of $154.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.44.

Unilever Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.5151 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. This is a positive change from Unilever’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Unilever’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on UL shares. UBS Group raised shares of Unilever from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Unilever from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Unilever from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.50.

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.