Golden State Equity Partners Decreases Position in Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL)

Golden State Equity Partners decreased its stake in Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,642 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,689 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Unilever were worth $710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of UL. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Unilever by 35.3% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,748,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,734 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Unilever by 6.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,548,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,293,000 after purchasing an additional 515,088 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in Unilever by 4,657.3% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 431,296 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,302,000 after purchasing an additional 422,230 shares during the last quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management boosted its holdings in Unilever by 13.1% in the third quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 2,512,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,122,000 after purchasing an additional 290,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its holdings in Unilever by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,215,003 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,903,000 after purchasing an additional 247,004 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley cut Unilever from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com cut Unilever from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Unilever has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.00.

Unilever Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Unilever stock traded up $0.32 on Friday, reaching $51.24. 4,278,463 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,049,528. The company’s 50-day moving average is $49.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.56. Unilever PLC has a 1-year low of $46.16 and a 1-year high of $55.99.

Unilever Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4556 per share. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th.

Unilever 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.