Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. Increases Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,448 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,324,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,486,839 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,128,174 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,257,131,000 after buying an additional 196,696 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter worth approximately $3,846,764,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,070,385 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,702,736,000 after purchasing an additional 847,054 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $406.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp increased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $267.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.13.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $365.97 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $339.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $334.29. The company has a market cap of $331.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $234.60 and a 1 year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.45 by ($0.37). The company had revenue of $111.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.75 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 23.32% and a net margin of 5.04%.UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.30%.

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.