Scotia Capital Inc. Reduces Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Scotia Capital Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 168,420 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 291,607 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $52,539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $47,519,620,000 after buying an additional 5,583,343 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,486,839 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,312,182 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,624,411,000 after purchasing an additional 675,075 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,502,469 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,340,346,000 after buying an additional 432,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,846,764,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $329.78 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50 day moving average is $343.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $315.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $298.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $234.60 and a 12-month high of $622.83.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on UNH shares. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $198.00 target price (down from $312.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $433.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research raised UnitedHealth Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.12.

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.