UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH Holdings Raised by Wedbush Securities Inc.

Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 52.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 27,864 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 9,570 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $8,693,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UNH. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter worth approximately $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $47,519,620,000 after purchasing an additional 5,583,343 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,537,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,839 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 137.8% during the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,641,177 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $859,518,000 after acquiring an additional 950,928 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 13.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,070,385 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,702,736,000 after purchasing an additional 847,054 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on UNH. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $286.00 to $408.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $406.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $325.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $378.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $324.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $345.84 and a 200-day moving average of $323.37. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $234.60 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The stock has a market cap of $293.75 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $0.05. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.The company had revenue of $113.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.14%.

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.