River Road Asset Management LLC Purchases 54,642 Shares of Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL)

River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 602,653 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 54,642 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Unilever were worth $34,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Unilever by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,940,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,017,253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214,563 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Unilever by 66.4% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,454,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,378,517 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Unilever during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $176,806,000. Hamlin Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Unilever by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 2,874,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,008,000 after purchasing an additional 207,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp boosted its holdings in Unilever by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 2,169,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,993,000 after purchasing an additional 36,922 shares in the last quarter. 9.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Unilever Price Performance

Shares of UL opened at $60.29 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $149.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.28, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.47. Unilever PLC has a one year low of $46.46 and a one year high of $65.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.80.

Unilever Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.4674 dividend. This represents a $1.87 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Unilever’s payout ratio is currently 53.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.