St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Has $1.56 Million Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 24.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,150 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 626 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth about $5,802,231,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 53,573.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,352,490 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,238,515,000 after buying an additional 2,348,107 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,617,813 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,904,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,352 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,090,986 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,627,311,000 after purchasing an additional 815,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3,464.9% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 825,311 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $434,501,000 after acquiring an additional 802,160 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on UNH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $546.00 to $559.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Baird R W upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of UNH stock opened at $484.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $498.20 and its 200-day moving average is $502.75. The stock has a market cap of $445.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.59, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $554.70.

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

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a $2.10 dividend. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.