Hm Payson & Company Has Upped Its Unilever Plc (UL) Position; Southern First Bancshares (SFST)’s Sentiment Is 1.76

August 7, 2017 - By Michael Collier

Hm Payson & Company increased Unilever Plc (UL) stake by 302.79% reported in 2016Q4 SEC filing. Hm Payson & Company acquired 176,954 shares as Unilever Plc (UL)’s stock rose 11.00%. The Hm Payson & Company holds 235,396 shares with $9.58 million value, up from 58,442 last quarter. Unilever Plc now has $173.44 billion valuation. The stock rose 0.52% or $0.29 reaching $57.17 per share. About 651,421 shares traded. Unilever plc (ADR) (NYSE:UL) has risen 20.68% since August 7, 2016 and is uptrending. It has outperformed by 3.98% the S&P500.

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding firm that owns the capital stock of Southern First Bank , a South Carolina state bank, and all of the stock of Greenville First Statutory Trust I and II (the Trusts). The company has market cap of $268.80 million. The Bank is a commercial bank with approximately nine retail offices located in Greenville, Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina. It has a 18.94 P/E ratio. The Bank is primarily engaged in the business of accepting demand deposits and savings deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC) and providing commercial, consumer and mortgage loans to the public.

Among 11 analysts covering Unilever (NYSE:UL), 4 have Buy rating, 1 Sell and 6 Hold. Therefore 36% are positive. Unilever had 13 analyst reports since July 24, 2015 according to SRatingsIntel. The firm has “Buy” rating by Canaccord Genuity given on Friday, July 24. As per Tuesday, January 12, the company rating was upgraded by JP Morgan. The firm has “Hold” rating by Liberum Capital given on Monday, March 27. The rating was upgraded by Jefferies on Tuesday, December 13 to “Buy”. The rating was downgraded by ABN Amro to “Sell” on Monday, April 3. The company was downgraded on Wednesday, August 12 by Goldman Sachs. The stock has “Equal-Weight” rating by Barclays Capital on Monday, January 23. On Monday, February 27 the stock rating was upgraded by Bank of America to “Neutral”. The company was initiated on Monday, August 22 by Bernstein. On Wednesday, December 7 the stock rating was downgraded by JP Morgan to “Neutral”.

Hm Payson & Company decreased Agco Corp De (NYSE:AGCO) stake by 7,871 shares to 11,205 valued at $649,000 in 2016Q4. It also reduced Johnson Ctls Intl Plc Shs stake by 50,546 shares and now owns 350,599 shares. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) was reduced too.

About 4,568 shares traded. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (SFST) has risen 34.98% since August 7, 2016 and is uptrending. It has outperformed by 18.28% the S&P500.