National Bank of Canada FI Reduces Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 34.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 690,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 356,165 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $349,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after buying an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after purchasing an additional 318,039 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,514,178,000 after buying an additional 861,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,012,218,000 after buying an additional 36,394 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on UNH. Hsbc Global Res upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. HSBC upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $524.48 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $479.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $509.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $543.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.19%.

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.