Forbes J M & Co. LLP Lowers Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Forbes J M & Co. LLP reduced its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,444 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 353 shares during the quarter. Forbes J M & Co. LLP’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $9,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UNH. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 7.8% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 38,702 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $19,146,000 after buying an additional 2,796 shares in the last quarter. Unique Wealth LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 30.8% during the first quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 2,869 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,427,000 after buying an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 58.1% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,062 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,458,000 after purchasing an additional 2,594 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.6% during the first quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 71,885 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $35,561,000 after purchasing an additional 8,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 20.6% in the first quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 4,804 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,358,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on UNH. Baird R W upgraded UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $566.00 to $571.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $545.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $482.59 on Monday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $554.70. The company has a market cap of $444.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $497.01 and its 200-day moving average is $503.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

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

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

UnitedHealth Group Company 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.