Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Has $197.01 Million Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 388,540 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,742 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $197,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 525 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $17,783,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 9,045 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,475,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Collective Family Office LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Collective Family Office LLC now owns 1,577 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $780,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total value of $868,545.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,507,748.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total value of $868,545.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,507,748.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total value of $1,624,727.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,812,029.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $555.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $591.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $614.17.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.9 %

UNH stock opened at $577.89 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $572.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $519.00. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $607.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $531.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.58.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.66 by $0.14. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 3.66%. The business had revenue of $98.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.34%.

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.