Employees Retirement System of Texas Has $120.65 Million Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 760.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 238,512 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 210,786 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group comprises about 0.6% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $120,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth about $6,375,744,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,914,740,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,069,100 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,183,132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991,470 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 76,830.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,888,641 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $955,388,000 after buying an additional 1,886,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,514,178,000 after acquiring an additional 861,854 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on UNH shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 2.9 %

NYSE UNH opened at $524.94 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $480.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $509.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $541.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.83 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

UnitedHealth Group 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.