SouthState Corp Acquires 288 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

SouthState Corp raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,019 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $4,724,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $47,519,620,000 after acquiring an additional 5,583,343 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after acquiring an additional 906,365 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,807,527,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,488 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,592,718 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,346,712,000 after acquiring an additional 2,301,010 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,344,586,000 after purchasing an additional 8,280,404 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on UNH. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $418.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $360.00 to $345.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $355.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $366.52.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,081,295.01. This trade represents a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 203,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. This trade represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 in the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $250.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.86, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $291.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $406.04. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $234.60 and a 52 week high of $630.73.

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

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 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.