Mechanics Bank Trust Department Purchases 446 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,350 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $4,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of UNH. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 65,860 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $33,540,000 after purchasing an additional 3,525 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.4% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 700,864 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $356,922,000 after acquiring an additional 23,129 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 245,171 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $124,856,000 after acquiring an additional 17,861 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 61,354.2% during the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 14,749 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,511,000 after purchasing an additional 14,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.0% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,797,607 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $915,449,000 after buying an additional 192,128 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE UNH opened at $510.03 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $469.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $549.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $563.18. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on UNH. TD Cowen upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $627.74.

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.