Sanders Capital LLC Acquires 6,918 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,196,602 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,918 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group comprises about 4.4% of Sanders Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Sanders Capital LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $3,038,349,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,039,601 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,094,247,000 after acquiring an additional 35,533 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,096,896,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,816,254 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,942,956,000 after buying an additional 880,183 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,772,487 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,920,039,000 after buying an additional 21,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,197,167 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,869,320,000 after acquiring an additional 107,097 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $625.00 price target (down from $640.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Stephens dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $605.83 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The company has a market cap of $557.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $582.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $553.99.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.72%.

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.