Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 72.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,789 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,202 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $7,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $3,096,896,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,025 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the second quarter worth about $480,903,000. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 9,235.4% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 784,924 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $458,929,000 after purchasing an additional 776,516 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,361,396 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,380,661,000 after buying an additional 587,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 129.7% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,029,540 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $601,951,000 after acquiring an additional 581,324 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on UNH shares. Stephens upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $510.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $469.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $549.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $562.73. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

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

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.