Unilever shares close little changed on Monday, company to halve use of newly made plastic by 2025

Unilever said that it intended to halve its use of newly made plastic by reducing its “absolute use of plastic packaging” by more than 100 000 tonnes and by “accelerating its use of recycled plastic” by the year 2025.

The consumer goods giant also pledged to “help collect and process more plastic packaging than it sells.” At present, the company’s plastic packaging footprint amounts to approximately 700 000 tonnes per year.

Unilever shares closed higher for a third consecutive trading session in New York on Monday. The stock inched up 0.02% ($0.01) to $59.69, after touching an intraday high at $60.01, or a price level not seen since October 1st ($60.33).

Shares of Unilever PLC have risen 14.24% so far this year following a 5.58% drop in 2018.

“The way that we’ll reduce the virgin plastic in half is by, first, an absolute reduction in the amount of plastic that we use, and that’s going to require our best innovative capability to come up with different packaging formats,” Alan Jope, Unilever’s Chief Executive Officer, said in an interview with CNBC.

“But also, we’re going to make much more use of recycled materials, stuff that the consumer has put into recycling streams and which we’re able to use. And by doing that we hope to trigger the continued development of the recycled material business system,” the CEO added.

“We have to move products that are currently made from brand new plastic into lighter weight materials that use more recycled plastic,” Jope also said.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 14 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Unilever PLC’s stock price, have a median target of $64.63, with a high estimate of $68.23 and a low estimate of $55.70. The median estimate represents an 8.28% upside compared to the closing price of 59.69 on October 7th.

The same media also reported that at least 5 out of 15 surveyed investment analysts had rated Unilever PLC’s stock as “Hold”, while other 5 – as “Buy”. On the other hand, 2 analysts had recommended selling the stock.