UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Stock Holdings Lessened by Second Half Financial Partners LLC

Second Half Financial Partners LLC decreased its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 76.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,800 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 5,770 shares during the quarter. Second Half Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UNH. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in 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 buying an additional 319,515 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 861,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings 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 valued at $4,012,218,000 after acquiring an additional 36,394 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $660.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $603.05.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $418.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $503.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $534.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $412.02 and a one year high of $630.73. The firm has a market cap of $380.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

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.