Ballentine Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Ballentine Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,503 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 229 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $9,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,860,515 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $44,150,045,000 after purchasing an additional 250,291 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,220,234 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $12,715,790,000 after acquiring an additional 527,526 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,122,203 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,961,369,000 after acquiring an additional 324,733 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,860,985 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,244,158,000 after purchasing an additional 542,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,802,231,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $597.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:UNH traded up $2.90 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $485.49. 648,179 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,136,682. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $446.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.50, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $554.70. The business has a 50-day moving average of $497.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $503.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.63 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.57 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

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.