Brown Shipley& Co Ltd Cuts Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Brown Shipley& Co Ltd lowered its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 6.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,305 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 794 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group makes up approximately 3.4% of Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $5,921,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $47,519,620,000 after purchasing an additional 5,583,343 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,537,859,000 after buying an additional 2,486,839 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,807,527,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,488 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,592,718 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,346,712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,301,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,344,586,000 after purchasing an additional 8,280,404 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on UNH. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $308.00 price target (down from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $353.00 to $317.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $290.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $179,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,390. The trade was a 5.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.4%

UNH stock opened at $299.8310 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $234.60 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $271.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $288.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $392.90.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by ($0.37). The business had revenue of $111.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.75 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.32%. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.80 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.000- EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.