Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Grows Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,122 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $128,975,000 after acquiring an additional 26,074 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,060,000 after purchasing an additional 41,308 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth about $21,165,000. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth $558,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $4,884,019,000 after purchasing an additional 193,800 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.5 %

UnitedHealth Group stock traded up $2.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $527.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,300,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,640,017. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $556.20 and its 200 day moving average is $561.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $485.31 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.56 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $626.79.

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.