Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super Makes New Investment in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 69,966 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $35,393,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,068,869,000 after buying an additional 319,515 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,514,178,000 after purchasing an additional 861,854 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,012,218,000 after buying an additional 36,394 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,223,331 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,148,134,000 after acquiring an additional 182,361 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $632.85.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $599.10 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $548.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $438.50 and a one year high of $630.73. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $512.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $541.80.

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 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.19%.

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.