Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 17.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,134 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,860,515 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $44,150,045,000 after purchasing an additional 250,291 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,220,234 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $12,715,790,000 after acquiring an additional 527,526 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,122,203 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,961,369,000 after purchasing an additional 324,733 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,860,985 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,244,158,000 after buying an additional 542,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,802,231,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on UNH. Baird R W raised shares of UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $607.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $591.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $597.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of UNH stock opened at $481.05 on Wednesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $554.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $494.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $505.02. The firm has a market cap of $442.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.40, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The company had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.57 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.34%.

UnitedHealth Group Company 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.