UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Purchased by Segment Wealth Management LLC

Segment Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 30,746 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $15,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. State Street Corp raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after purchasing an additional 563,554 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 193,800 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position 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 worth $3,096,896,000 after buying an additional 5,290,025 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,772,487 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,920,039,000 after purchasing an additional 21,149 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on UNH. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $524.78 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $547.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $563.84. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $482.95 billion, a PE ratio of 33.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

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.