Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 25,471.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 109,190 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,763 shares during the quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $34,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,947 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,544,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,154 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Tlwm boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% in the first quarter. Tlwm now owns 2,736 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,433,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 8,781 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,599,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on UNH. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $406.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $440.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE UNH opened at $326.23 on Wednesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $234.60 and a 12 month high of $622.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $295.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $343.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.05. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.04% and a return on equity of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.19 billion. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.14%.

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.