Liberty One Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Liberty One Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,248 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $4,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $510.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $469.37 billion, a PE ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $549.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $562.73. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.72%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.