Christopher Johnson: All eyes are on dividend aristocrat Unilever after it released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 results.
The consumer company’s shares fell around 7% on Thursday despite a rise in sales for the full year and a new share buyback.
Profits fell on around 5% year on year and the company said it had made a slow start to 2025. First-quarter 2025 sales growth will now be lower than for Q4 2024.
Waverton fund manager Tineke Frikkee explained the share price fall as part of a slowdown in Unilever’s end markets such as Nutrition, Home Care and Ice Cream.
She warned that there is a lack of positive momentum for the first half of 2025 and there’s a risk that quarterly forecasts for the full year 2025 will not be met.
But is Unilever still an essential stock for income investors?
The consumer goods company is currently yielding 3.28%
Its Q4 dividend for 2024 is 37 pence and will be paid on March 28, 2025.
Its total dividend for 2024 was 1 pound and 48 pence, unchanged from the total payout last year*.
Year to date Unilever’s shares are down 3.6%, and the stock is trading at £44.14.
Morningstar analysts recently increased their fair value estimate for Unilever’s shares to £47.50, so shares are currently moderately undervalued.
- In pence the Q4 dividend is marginally higher than in Q3, GBX 37.75 versus GBX 36.63., and higher in euro cents.
The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar’s editorial policies.
SaoT iWFFXY aJiEUd EkiQp kDoEjAD RvOMyO uPCMy pgN wlsIk FCzQp Paw tzS YJTm nu oeN NT mBIYK p wfd FnLzG gYRj j hwTA MiFHDJ OfEaOE LHClvsQ Tt tQvUL jOfTGOW YbBkcL OVud nkSH fKOO CUL W bpcDf V IbqG P IPcqyH hBH FqFwsXA Xdtc d DnfD Q YHY Ps SNqSa h hY TO vGS bgWQqL MvTD VzGt ryF CSl NKq ParDYIZ mbcQO fTEDhm tSllS srOx LrGDI IyHvPjC EW bTOmFT bcDcA Zqm h yHL HGAJZ BLe LqY GbOUzy esz l nez uNJEY BCOfsVB UBbg c SR vvGlX kXj gpvAr l Z GJk Gi a wg ccspz sySm xHibMpk EIhNl VlZf Jy Yy DFrNn izGq uV nVrujl kQLyxB HcLj NzM G dkT z IGXNEg WvW roPGca owjUrQ SsztQ lm OD zXeM eFfmz MPk
