UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Acquired by Verity & Verity LLC

Verity & Verity LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 36.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,052 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in UNH. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 152.4% in the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 53 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 132.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 65 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE UNH opened at $510.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $469.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62. 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 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $551.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $562.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.72%.

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.