Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Key Points

• Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. sold 155,436 shares of UnitedHealth Group, reducing its holdings by 82.5% to 33,063 shares valued at approximately $10.3 million.
• UnitedHealth Group reported a quarterly EPS of $4.08, missing analysts' expectations of $4.45, while revenue increased by 12.9% year-over-year to $111.62 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $2.21, resulting in an annualized dividend of $8.84 and a yield of 2.6%.

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 82.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,063 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after selling 155,436 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $10,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $13,537,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,839 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 196,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,846,764,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $325.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Wall Street Zen cut UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $337.00 to $379.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $337.00 to $352.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $290.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $358.95.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.6%

UnitedHealth Group stock traded up $1.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $336.72. The company had a trading volume of 13,528,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,748,202. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $295.67 and a 200 day moving average of $364.42. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $234.60 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The stock has a market cap of $304.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.45.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 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 company had revenue of $111.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.80 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.000- EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio 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.