UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Bought by Mariner LLC

Mariner LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 506,132 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,588 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $256,040,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $10,068,869,000 after acquiring an additional 319,515 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,514,178,000 after buying an additional 861,854 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,012,218,000 after acquiring an additional 36,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,223,331 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,148,134,000 after acquiring an additional 182,361 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $632.85.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $599.10 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $512.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $541.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $548.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $438.50 and a 52-week high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

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.