Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Grows Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 6.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,036 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $25,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Delta Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $965,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 40.0% during the 2nd quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 63 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Saxony Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% during the second quarter. Saxony Capital Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 3,124 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,591,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Group LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on UNH shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $625.00 target price (down from $640.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. HSBC lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $600.50 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $582.52 and a 200 day moving average of $551.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $552.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.12, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.72%.

UnitedHealth Group Profile

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage, and health and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; and health and dental benefits, and hospital and clinical services, as well as health care benefits products and services to state programs caring for the economically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and those without the benefit of employer-funded health care coverage.