Ninety One UK Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Ninety One UK Ltd cut its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 33.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,196 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after selling 78,938 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd's holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $82,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on UNH. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $552.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Hsbc Global Res lowered UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Erste Group Bank cut UnitedHealth Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, HSBC reiterated a "reduce" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective (down previously from $490.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $415.00.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE UNH traded down $1.91 during trading on Thursday, reaching $301.00. The company had a trading volume of 8,779,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,635,163. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $248.88 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The stock has a market cap of $273.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.45. The business's 50-day moving average is $318.44 and its 200 day moving average is $443.71.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The business had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.56 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 679,493 shares of the company's stock, valued at $196,081,295.01. This represents a 14.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristen Gil purchased 3,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $271.17 per share, with a total value of $1,003,329.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 3,818 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,327.06. This represents a 3,135.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.