Capital Research Global Investors Decreases Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Capital Research Global Investors cut its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,966,490 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 15,806 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group comprises approximately 1.9% of Capital Research Global Investors’ portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $9,088,540,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after acquiring an additional 906,365 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew 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 worth $4,514,178,000 after purchasing an additional 861,854 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on UNH. HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $632.85.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $456.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $417.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $512.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $540.65. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $438.50 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.91 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

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.