  The mass and decay width of the $\phi$ meson in cold nuclear matter are
computed in an effective Lagrangian approach. The medium dependence of these
properties are obtained by evaluating kaon-antikaon loop contributions to the
$\phi$ self-energy, employing the medium-modified kaon masses, calculated using
the quark-meson coupling model. The loop integral is regularized with a dipole
form factor, and the sensitivity of the results to the choice of cutoff mass in
the form factor is investigated. At normal nuclear matter density we find a
downward shift of the $\phi$ mass by a few percent, while the decay width is
enhanced by an order of magnitude. For a large variation of the cutoff mass
parameter, the results for the $\phi$ mass and the decay width turn out to vary
very little. Our results support results in the literature which suggest that
one should observe a small downward mass shift and a large broadening of the
decay width. In order to explore the possibility of studying the binding and
absorption of $\phi$ mesons in nuclei, we also present the single-particle
binding energies and half-widths of $\phi$-nucleus bound states for some
selected nuclei.
