UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Sold by Steph & Co.

Steph & Co. lowered its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,459 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Steph & Co.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after buying an additional 563,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after purchasing an additional 318,039 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,884,019,000 after purchasing an additional 193,800 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,096,896,000 after buying an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,772,487 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,920,039,000 after acquiring an additional 21,149 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on UNH shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $603.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $626.79.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $543.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $499.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.39, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $554.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $563.12.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.83 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.