Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Takes Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Key Points

• Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. acquired 1,827 shares of UnitedHealth Group, valued at approximately $570,000, during the second quarter.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for UnitedHealth Group significantly, with Wells Fargo increasing it from $267 to $400 and Morgan Stanley from $325 to $395, indicating positive sentiment about the stock.
• The healthcare conglomerate recently paid a quarterly dividend of $2.21, which represents an annualized yield of 2.5% and a payout ratio of 38.30%.

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,827 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $570,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 176.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 44,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $22,384,000 after buying an additional 28,231 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 137.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $2,033,000 after buying an additional 2,324 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,838 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $8,295,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 4,204 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $2,202,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $267.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $325.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $383.09.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $354.30 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $320.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.47. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $318.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $348.08. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $234.60 and a 1 year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.45 by ($0.37). The firm 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%.The business's revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.80 EPS. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.000- EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.

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