Analysts at Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Unilever (NYSE: UN) from Hold to Buy today.With a rating of Buy on the stock, the company has a 52-week high of $48.00. The one-year price target of $45.27 is less than the opening price of $45.42, that has caused a fair amount of other analysts to issue statements on the company in recent days. Typically, after analysts assign an upgrade report on a stock, they will later issue sporadic updates, such as a price target change.
U.S. stocks on Monday closed essentially flat, after trading firmly higher, in a volatile session ahead of the start of a pair of closely watched central-bank policy meetings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.02% closed down 3.63 points at 18,120.17.
The blue-chip index had been up by as much as 131 points earlier and traded within a 162-point range.
The S&P 500 SPX, +0.00% slipped 0.04 points to close at 2,139.12, after trading within an 18-point range
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.18% declined 9.54 points, or 0.2%, to close at 5,235.03.
Earlier, the Nasdaq Composite Index had been up by as many as 37 points and traded with a 58-point range
Shares of Unilever (NYSE: UN) opened at $45.42 yesterday trading between $45.35 and $45.52, and last traded at $45.45, which represents a spike of $0.07 over the previous closing price.
Unilever (NYSE: UN) now has a market cap of 129.02B.
368,336 shares traded hands yesterday, 74 percent lower than the average, out of a total float 2,837,096,000. Look for trading volume to pick up in the coming days as swing traders often use swings in trading volume to pinpoint large volume aggregation or distribution by institutional investors.
While an increase in trading for short periods will not mean much, however, a trend of heavy trading volume on the buy side over a series of days or weeks delivers a positive signal to market traders that institutions may be moving in, so institutional sponsorship is very important.
Institutional sponsorship is defined by ownership of a stock by mutual funds, banks, pension funds and other large institutions.
These instituitional investors retain teams of analysts researching thousands of stocks, so it is good confirmation to see them taking a postion in a stock you’re considering.
By following the activity of these professional investors and how they affect moving averages,it allows for traders to make more impactful judgments on trades.
With that in mind, Unilever (NYSE: UN) now has a 50-day MA of $46.14 and 200-day MA of $45.26. It has traded in a 52-week range between $37.92 – 48.00 and today’s last price is 0.05% lower than the 52 week high of $48.00.
Earnings growth is a critical factor to consider when investing in stocks and investors watch for companies that have raised their earnings at least 25% or more over a 3 year period.
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