IHT Wealth Management LLC Acquires 274 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,843 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 274 shares during the quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $5,991,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,514,178,000 after buying an additional 861,854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $4,012,218,000 after purchasing an additional 36,394 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $456.10 on Monday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $438.50 and a fifty-two week 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 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $417.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50-day moving average is $512.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $539.93.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.91 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, HSBC upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $632.85.

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.