D.B. Root & Company LLC Makes New $376,000 Investment in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

D.B. Root & Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 760 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,860,515 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $44,150,045,000 after purchasing an additional 250,291 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,860,985 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,244,158,000 after purchasing an additional 542,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $5,802,231,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $580.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 4.7 %

NYSE UNH opened at $509.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $468.72 billion, a PE ratio of 31.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $498.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $501.63. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $554.70.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.26 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a $2.10 dividend. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.34%.

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.