Wambolt & Associates LLC Boosts Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Wambolt & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 16.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,608 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,098 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group comprises about 1.1% of Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $3,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,860,515 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $44,150,045,000 after acquiring an additional 250,291 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,220,234 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $12,715,790,000 after buying an additional 527,526 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,122,203 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,961,369,000 after acquiring an additional 324,733 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,860,985 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,244,158,000 after acquiring an additional 542,424 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,802,231,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $580.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $607.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock traded down $1.88 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $488.01. 3,498,996 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,448,744. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $554.70. The company has a market capitalization of $449.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $498.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $500.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The business had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.55 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.